Amnesty International (AI) said yesterday that years of poorly regulated arms movements and sloppy controls of weaponries into Iraq have provided the Islamic State (IS) with large and deadly arsenal that is being used to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity on a massive scale in Iraq and Syria.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP and signed by Amnesty Press Officer Eulette Ewart, it said that the vast and varied weaponry being used by ISIS is categorical case of how reckless arms proliferation and trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale.
An analysis of thousands of verified videos and images titled : “Taking Stock, the arming of Islamic State” exposed how IS fighters are using arms, mainly looted from Iraqi military stocks, manufactured and designed in more than two dozen countries, including Russia, China the USA and EU states.
A researcher on Arms Control, Security Trade and Human Rights at Amnesty International Patrick Wilcken said: “Poor regulation and lack of oversight of the immense arms flows into Iraq going back decades have given IS and other armed groups a bonanza of unprecedented access to firepower.”
The report noted that after taking control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June 2014, IS fighters acquired a windfall of internationally manufactured arms from Iraqi stockpiles which included US-manufactured weapons and military vehicles, which they used to take control of other parts of the country, with devastating consequences for the civilian population in those areas.
“The vast array of weapon types captured and illicitly acquired have enabled IS to carry out a horrific campaign of abuse. Summary killings, rape, torture, abduction and hostage-taking – often carried out at gunpoint – have forced hundreds of thousands to flee and become internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugees,” the statement said.
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