I'll preface by saying I'm certainly no fan of the Obama administration or of supporting the Syrian opposition but there is the belief going around that the U.S. armed ISIS by supporting the Syrian opposition. I admit I've said this a few times myself. But how true is it? I decided to do a little digging and find out for myself. First a look at the Syrian opposition.
The U.S. support for the Syrian opposition thus far has been very limited. A few dozen BGM-71 TOW missiles have been the biggest contribution. The other American made weapons seen have been the M1911 Pistol, M4 Carbine, M14 rifle (rare), M16 rifle, Mk 2 grenade, M72 Law RPG, and M40 anti-tank rifle. These weapons may have come from the United States or from countries which the United States have supplied weapons to. The U.S. deliveries have not included weapons such as shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADs, which can shoot down military or civilian aircraft.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states lobbied aggressively for the Obama administration to step up its support. In June of 2014 the Obama Administration has lobbied congress to supply the opposition with $500 million worth of weapons, equipment, and training, which have yet to be approved as of this writing. Currently the opposition claims the supply of arms have been too few to be adequate.
Now on to ISIS. Their armaments are predominantly a mix of veteran Soviet tanks; large, advanced U.S.-made systems; and black market arms and include rocket launchers, grenade launchers. Other weapons include the American-made M60 machine guns from Croatia through Saudi Arabia, soviet made SA-7 MANPAD, Chinese HJ-8 and Russian AT-4 anti-tank systems, Soviet 12.7mm DShK machine guns, and Chinese-made Type 65 or Type 74 37mm twin-barreled anti-aircraft guns. Most of the U.S. weapons and equipment were taken from the Iraqi military, including night vision goggles.
ISIS gets it's money from various sources, including social media fundraising and wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. ISIS have also taken control of the local economy, including oil installations and refineries, food granaries, and by extorting and taxing individuals operating businesses in the region.
In conclusion both the Syrian opposition and ISIS gets it's weapons and funding from a variety of sources and there's many players involved on all sides. Some U.S. arms may have inadvertently ended up into the hands of ISIS when some of the Syrian opposition forces joined ISIS. However the U.S. contribution has been so limited that it's not likely to have contributed to the growth of ISIS in and of itself, which is due to many factors.
Weapons used by the Syrian opposition come from a variety of sources. There's a mix of very old and newer weapons from many different countries (some of which no longer exist) including China, USA, Russia\USSR, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Nazi Germany, France, Romania,
Hungary, Iran, Israel, Czechoslovakia, Syria, Croatia, Serbia, Sweden. The majority
are Chinese and Russian made, but the weapons are shuffled around so much from one country to another, it's impossible to say who funded what. Heavy equipment, such as tanks and vehicles, were captured from the Syrian army. Armed groups in Syria have acquired at least eight models of MANPADS, or man-portable air defense systems, most of which were designed and/or manufactured in China or Russia. The likely sources of these MANPADS are from Sudan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. support for the Syrian opposition thus far has been very limited. A few dozen BGM-71 TOW missiles have been the biggest contribution. The other American made weapons seen have been the M1911 Pistol, M4 Carbine, M14 rifle (rare), M16 rifle, Mk 2 grenade, M72 Law RPG, and M40 anti-tank rifle. These weapons may have come from the United States or from countries which the United States have supplied weapons to. The U.S. deliveries have not included weapons such as shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADs, which can shoot down military or civilian aircraft.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states lobbied aggressively for the Obama administration to step up its support. In June of 2014 the Obama Administration has lobbied congress to supply the opposition with $500 million worth of weapons, equipment, and training, which have yet to be approved as of this writing. Currently the opposition claims the supply of arms have been too few to be adequate.
Now on to ISIS. Their armaments are predominantly a mix of veteran Soviet tanks; large, advanced U.S.-made systems; and black market arms and include rocket launchers, grenade launchers. Other weapons include the American-made M60 machine guns from Croatia through Saudi Arabia, soviet made SA-7 MANPAD, Chinese HJ-8 and Russian AT-4 anti-tank systems, Soviet 12.7mm DShK machine guns, and Chinese-made Type 65 or Type 74 37mm twin-barreled anti-aircraft guns. Most of the U.S. weapons and equipment were taken from the Iraqi military, including night vision goggles.
ISIS gets it's money from various sources, including social media fundraising and wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. ISIS have also taken control of the local economy, including oil installations and refineries, food granaries, and by extorting and taxing individuals operating businesses in the region.
In conclusion both the Syrian opposition and ISIS gets it's weapons and funding from a variety of sources and there's many players involved on all sides. Some U.S. arms may have inadvertently ended up into the hands of ISIS when some of the Syrian opposition forces joined ISIS. However the U.S. contribution has been so limited that it's not likely to have contributed to the growth of ISIS in and of itself, which is due to many factors.
