Event Summary:
Wednesday August 12, 2015- 60 Peshmerga fighters in Iraq suffered breathing difficulties after an attack on their positions in North Iraq.
The United State, Germany and the Kurds officials confirmed the attack was orchestrated using chemical weapons by the Islamic State that was launched using 120mm mortar shells.
German soldiers who are training the Kurdish troops were not present at the time of the attack that left a few of the soldiers injured and others severely burnt.
Analysis:
The Peshmerga General Command in a statement said that 60 soldiers suffered injuries especially difficulty in breathing and severe burns after IS Takfiri militants launched 45 120mm mortar shells tipped with chemical weapons on their positions in North Iraq.
The United State, Germany and the Kurds officials confirmed the attack was orchestrated using chemical weapons by the Islamic State.
According to Germany Defence Ministry spokesman no German soldiers were at the attack scene despite the fact that Germany is training the Peshmerga troops in Iraq.
Reports indicate that the gas launched on the soldiers was either chlorine or mustard gas that purportedly to have been gotten from the stockpile leftovers from the Saddam Hussein era.
Mustard gas is a very toxic gas that is almost 3000 times toxic as chlorine and it’s a proscribed under the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. It is grouped in schedule one as gas that has no other use but chemical warfare. It can be launched through mortar/ artillery shells, aerial bombs, and rockets or sprayed from a warplane.
The Sulfur mustard is cytotoxic and once exposed to open skin it leaves large blisters and affects the lungs hence victims experience difficulty in breathing.
According to UK Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment (CBRN), Islamic State was reported to have recruited scientists and chemical engineers from their main stronghold in Syria- Raqqa and Mosul to help develop mass chemical weapons. Experts have however been accessing and combing the suspected area of the chemical weapons development.
Forecast:
The Islamic State’s attack on the Kurdish soldiers with a chemical weapon is viewed as a strategic move to instill mass fear and panic on the people as chemical weapons have much more lethal effects.
Claims that IS was developing chemical weapons to instill fear and expand their mode of operation have been met with experts from Germany, UK, US, France and Iraq conducting assessments to establish to what extent they have succeeded. Claims have emerged that the IS have combed through the stockpile leftover after Saddam Hussein’s era which were not destroyed after his fall.
The CBRN has however assured that the transportation of Chemical weapons is very difficult and the constant hawk-eye monitoring on the Islamic State’s movements will stall if not totally prevent another launch.
The War against Islamic State has been intensified especially with US-led coalition launching their first manned airstrikes from Turkey and Australia seeking to join in on the fight.
IS caliphates across the globe have weakened with Nigerian Military having a 3-months deadline to defeat Boko Haram in Nigeria and Egypt receiving F-16 from the US as a bolster to the Arab League Coalition.
