A Pentagon spokesman said Monday that Islamic State militants are “dead set” on using chemical weapons and will likely try to use them against Iraqi forces as they prepare its siege on Mosul.
ISIS fighters are believed to have attacked U.S. and Iraqi forces with a “crude” chemical weapon, a U.S. official told Fox News last week. The U.S base outside Qayyarah, 25 miles south of Mosul, was struck by a rocket and traces of a "mustard agent" were believed to be present, the official said. The attack was first reported by CNN. No one was hurt in the attack.
"We fully recognize this is something that ISIL has done before. They've done it many times, at least a couple dozen that we know of where they have launched crude makeshift munitions that are filled with this mustard agent," Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters.
According to Reuters, the U.S.-led coalition conducted an air strike on an ISIS chemical weapons factory Friday near Qayyara, the second attack on such a facility this month.
Davis said the terror group has a basic understanding of making mustard gas. The group has used a chemical powder bound together with oil, with leaves behind a trace. A Pentagon official told Fox News last week a “tar-like black oily substance” was found on the shell, which landed within the base hundreds of yards from U.S. forces.
"It's not generally in a lethal concentration. It's more of an irritant than anything else, but again, not something we view as militarily significant," Davis said.
Davis said even though ISIS chemical weapons aren’t perfect, coalition forces still have to be prepared for a chemical attack. He added that the U.S. has provided more than 50,000 gas masks to Iraq – 40,000 going to Iraq security forces.
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