American and Iraqi’s Special Forces Capture IS Senior Chemical Weapons Specialist

Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, a top chemical weapons specialist for the Islamic State (IS) who was captured by U.S. Special Forces and Iraqi commandos in late February. According to reports Al-Afari is providing information leading to coalition strikes against IS chemical plants. American officials described al-Afari as “significant operative” in the IS chemical weapons program, and another official noted he had previously worked with Saddam Hussein’s Military Industrialization Authority.

Al-Afari was captured by a coalition of American and Iraqi forces who are deemed Expeditionary Targeting Forces (ETF). There main premise is to gathering intelligence along with capturing or killing IS members in Iraq and eventually Syria.

According to a senior Iraqi official al-Afari has a background in industrial engineering with Saddam Hussein’s military and has been with IS since the fall of Hussein.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis in a news conference about the IS chemical weapons capabilities noted, “We know they have used chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria.”

The capture of al-Afari is a major accomplishment for the United States as it now gives insight of what chemicals IS produces, where they are storing them, and who else is connected to the program.

Interrogators learned that IS had weaponized sulfur mustard and used it in artillery shells. The information provided by al-Afari allowed for two strikes against IS weapons production plant in Mosul, Iraq and another attack on a “tactical unit” connected to the chemical program.

Intelligence gathered from al-Afrai was also believed to have led to a successful drone strike on ISIS minister of war this past Wednesday.

While the goal is to end the IS capability chemical weapon capability, that involves targeting the people, facilities, and vehicles used to produce, transport and deploy the weapons.

The United States has already confirmed 12 cases where IS used mustard gas as a weapon and there are another 3 suspected cases being investigated. Attacks have occurred all throughout Syria and Iraq including near the Mara Line, which is a hotbed of fighting in northwest Syria. Attacks in Iraq have been reported in the Sinjar Mountains, Mosul and Baghdad have reported chemical attacks.

The Iraqi defense minister Khalid al-Obaidi has denied IS chemical capabilities and says that the ETF operations will only hurt the morale of Iraqi troops. However, reports this past Wednesday detailed that IS fired mortars into the northern Iraq village of Taza, and sent 40 people to the hospital.

A Mideast watchdog group has also released photos in 2014 of Kurdish victims attacked by chemical agents in Syria.

While the capture of a key IS chemical weapons specialist is obviously good news, there is concern that al-Afrai is far from the only CW expert at Islamic State’s disposal. But while al-Afrari’s intelligence remains timely, the ETF will seek to exploit it in order to do as much harm to IS’ CW capability as possible.