US, Saudi arms bought from EU fell into ISIL hands: monitor

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European weaponry bought by the United States and Saudi Arabia and transferred illegally to Syrian rebels wound up in the hands of ISIL, an arms monitoring group said.

"The United States and Saudi Arabia supplied most of this materiel without authorization, apparently to Syrian opposition forces," said Conflict Armament Research (CAR) in a report seen Thursday.

CAR, which monitors the movement of arms into conflict zones, said Washington and Riyadh, supporters of rebel groups in the Syrian conflict, had not secured the required authorization to transfer the purchased weapons to another end user.

Opposition fighters fire an antiaircraft machine gun during clashes with government forces for the control of the city of al-Baath in Syria's southwestern Quneitra province, June 28, 2017. /VCG Photo

"This diverted materiel, recovered from IS (ISIL) forces, comprises exclusively Warsaw Pact-caliber weapons and ammunition, purchased by the United States and Saudi Arabia from European Union (EU) member states in eastern Europe," it said.

The weapons were bought from countries including Bulgaria and Romania, according to the report.

But it said the United States "did not notify the supplier states concerned before re-transferring the materiel."

"Although these proportions are low, IS (ISIL) forces captured significant quantities of NATO weaponry during initial assaults on Iraqi forces in 2014."

CAR said that arms supplied to combatants in Syria by foreign parties, notably the United States and Saudi Arabia, had "indirectly allowed IS (ISIL) to obtain substantial quantities of anti-armor ammunition."

Source(s): AFP