Pentagon: Video of the Islamic State with weapons airdropped by U.S. may be real
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Version 0 of 1. When the Islamic State released a video Tuesday that it said showed its fighters combing through supplies and weapons the U.S. military mistakenly sent to them with an errant airdrop, there were plenty of skeptics. Why would the U.S. send old stockpiles of weapons, especially the aging grenades in crates depicted in the video? Why would the United States acknowledge Monday in a news release that it had launched an airstrike on one airdrop that went astray, if a second bundle of weapons also did? What if the video was old, or recorded somewhere else? @ZeddRebel More credible people than daesh say this is an old video from when the Iraqi army missed their air drop target in Anbar. — Vince (@vinceperritano) October 21, 2014 @ZeddRebel More credible people than daesh say this is an old video from when the Iraqi army missed their air drop target in Anbar. — Vince (@vinceperritano) October 21, 2014 ISIS video supposedly showing air drops delivered to the YPG is false. The video is from air drop by the Iraqi army in Anbar, not Kobani. — MIB (@MIB___) October 21, 2014 ISIS video supposedly showing air drops delivered to the YPG is false. The video is from air drop by the Iraqi army in Anbar, not Kobani. — MIB (@MIB___) October 21, 2014 Although initial indications were that one resupply bundle was unsuccessfully delivered — and subsequently blown up by a U.S. airstrike — a new review determined that a second bundle was not recovered by fighters near Kobane, Syria, who are fighting the Islamic State, “and may have been seized” by the militants, said Navy Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman. “It is therefore possible that the video released yesterday could be that missing bundle,” Smith said. “We are confident that coalition aircraft successfully destroyed the other bundle which went astray.” The Defense Department added that assertions that U.S. weapons were delivered to Kurdish fighters in northern Syria are incorrect. They came from Albania, a senior U.S. official previously told The Washington Post. It is one of several European countries that has agreed to arm the Kurds. The difficulty was sending them to the battle around Kobane, and the United States handled that Monday. “All military missions incur some risk, especially airdrop resupply,” Smith said. “It is common practice — and was in this case — that we drop more than what is required with the expectation that not all bundles will be successfully retrieved. Even with the loss of two bundles, the vast majority of the supplies intended for anti-ISIL forces reached their hands. The mission was successful.” Missy Ryan contributed to this report. |