Washington, Beirut: The Pentagon is investigating if one of the 28 caches of weapons and medical supplies airdropped to Kurdish forces fighting Daesh in Syria has been seized by the radicals, officials said.
“We are very confident that the vast majority of the bundles did end up in the right hands except one,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told journalists on Tuesday.
Kirby added that he could not confirm that the missing bundle was seized by Daesh after its drop by US planes over the northern Syrian city of Kobani, also known as Ain Al Arab.
On Tuesday, Daesh fighters released a video on YouTube in which they appear with boxes wrapped in the net of a large parachute which they later open and find military material, including grenades.
On Sunday, the US airdropped arms, ammunition and medical supplies to the Kurdish fighters combating Daesh in Kobani.
The cache of weapons included hand grenades, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, according to the video.
The video appeared authentic and corresponded to The Associated Press’ reporting of the event. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which bases its information on a network of activists on the ground, said the militants had seized at least one cache.
The caches were airdropped early on Monday to Kurds in the embattled Syrian town of Kobani that lies near the Turkish border. The militant group has been trying to seize the town for over a month now, causing the exodus of some 200,000 people from the area into Turkey. While Kurds are battling on the ground, a US-led coalition is also targeting the militants from the air.
Thank you notes
On Tuesday, Daesh loyalists on social media posted sarcastic thank you notes to the United States, including one image that said “Team USA.”
But the lost weapons drop was more an embarrassment than a great strategic loss. The Daesh militants already possess millions of dollars-worth of US weaponry that they captured from fleeing Iraqi soldiers when the group seized swathes of Iraq in a sudden sweep in June.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said the US had seen the video but couldn’t confirm its accuracy and was seeking more information.
On Tuesday, the US Central Command said US military forces conducted four air strikes near Kobani that destroyed Daesh fighting positions, a Daesh building and a large Daesh unit.
Also on Tuesday, Syrian government air strikes hit a rebel-held town along the country’s southern border with Jordan, killing at least eight people.
Activists with the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) and the Observatory said the number of those killed was likely to rise as there are more victims under the rubble.
The LCC said Syrian government planes dropped crude explosives-laden canisters on the town of Nasib on the Syria-Jordan border.
The air strikes are part of battles between Syrian government forces and Islamist rebel groups for control of the area.
Syrian government forces have been heavily bombing rebel areas in recent weeks, while the US-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against Daesh militants elsewhere in Syria.
