ISIS Seizes US Arms Drop Meant for Syrian Kurds

Pentagon: Most Arms Dropped Near Kobani Didn't End Up With ISIS

The US air drops of weaponry to Kurdish fighters in and around Kobani ended up quite a bit more embarrassing than the administration predicted, as ISIS today released a video showing they’d intercepted at least one of the parcels of weaponry.

The ISIS video showed caches of hand grenades, ammunition, and grenade launchers, and will add to the massive amount of US-made weaponry ISIS already possesses.

ISIS supporters followed up the release of the video with a series of “thank you” notes posted on social media, rubbing in the fact that ISIS is armed in great measure by US bungles.

Pentagon officials are reluctant to admit their mistakes, especially the big, obvious ones and today defended the airdrops on the grounds that “most” of the parcels of weaponry dropped ended up in Kurdish hands.

Pentagon officials said they couldn’t confirm the authenticity of the video, but that this was the sort of weaponry that was dropped and that it was possible. They promised a probe of the incident.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.