A Single ISIS Workshop Produced 2,500 Improvised Rockets per Year
ISIS has developed improvised military industry in several cities in Iraq and Syria. One of the organization’s workshops was uncovered last month in Fallujah after the Iraqi army liberated the city
According to a report by the Conflict Armament Research (CAR), ISIS forces captured Fallujah in January 2014 and occupied the city until its liberation by Iraqi forces on 26 June 2016. CAR field investigation teams entered the city on 29 June 2016, alongside the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service and Popular Mobilization Forces.
The teams systematically documented improvised weapon production workshops and collected documentary evidence left by ISIS forces in the Shurta neighborhood.
Documents: 2495 improvised rockets in one #Fallujah workshop bet Sep. 2015-May 2016 https://t.co/mtSdONHtK8 #ISIS pic.twitter.com/KfHaHht7xY
— CAR (@conflictarm) July 5, 2016
Recently abandoned machinery, component parts, and chemical precursors found in the Fallujah workshops indicate that ISIS forces were engaged in large-scale improvised weapon production, until Iraqi forces launched liberation operations in late May 2016.
Large ISIS rocket factory discovered in Fallujah by ISF pic.twitter.com/gjKgTtUOGz
— BM-21 GRAD (@bm21_grad) July 2, 2016
In two workshops, CAR field investigation teams recovered documents, which detail the daily production of weapons. One document, issued by the IS ‘Committee for Military Development and Production’ in the ‘Western Provinces,’ records production management’s daily schedules for 2016. This document and the physical evidence observed at the facility suggests a sophisticated production chain, involving seven different workshops responsible for various stages of a weapon’s production.
The complexity of production is clearly demonstrated in one of the workshops visited by a CAR field investigation team. This workshop manufactured improvised rocket-assisted munitions (IRAM) – a process that involved machining warheads, rocket motor nozzles, and coupling screws. Machined cones were then welded to warheads and fitted with workshop-lathed point detonating fuses. In another facility, ISIS forces filled the warheads with homemade explosive and loaded homemade propellant.
CAR field investigation teams previously documented similar evidence in the production of improvised weapons in Kobane and Tikrit, in 2015, and in Ramadi in 2016.
The IDF Spokesman previously published that an operational relationship exists between ISIS and Hamas. Is it possible that Hamas buys rockets from ISIS, which produces them in Iraq? I did not find any evidence to support this claim, but this is indeed a thought to consider.
