Fragments from the site of an Islamic State attack this month showed the presence of the chemical commonly known as mustard gas, the Pentagon said Friday.
An initial field test, conducted on mortar fragments delivered to Americans by the Peshmerga, is not conclusive and shows only the presence of the chemical sulfur mustard, said Marine Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. He also said there are concerns about the integrity of the samples.
Full testing on the samples is underway and will take a couple of weeks, he said.
The alleged chemical weapons attack happened Aug. 11 against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Killea stressed that the U.S. is already doing everything it can to find and kill Islamic State terrorists regardless of the group’s use of chemical weapons.
“From a coalition perspective, we really don’t need another reason to hunt down ISIL and kill them wherever we can and whenever we can,” he said, using the Pentagon’s acronym for the terrorist group. “However, it’s important that any indication of the use of a chemical warfare agent purely from our perspective reinforces the perspective that this is an abhorrent group that will kill indiscriminately without any moral or legal code.”
On other fronts to defeat the terrorist group, Killea said Iraqi forces are making “daily progress” in the effort to retake Ramadi, which fell into terrorist control in May. The Iraqi Security Forces are still in the isolation phase, cutting off routes into and out of the city to prevent terrorists from resupplying or fleeing.
Killea said the efforts are making it more difficult for the Islamic State to replace members who are killed within the city.
“ISIL in action today is a different enemy than it was a year ago,” he said.
In another active battle in Iraq, Killea said Iraqi forces control about 80 percent of the city of Baiji and only about one-third of the oil refinery to the city’s north. He described the conflict as “hotly contested.”
When asked about the battle to retake Mosul, which officials said had been planned for this fall, Killea said the offensive will take place on Iraqi’s timeline and that current operations around the city will make it easier when it does happen.
