U.S. unprepared for chemical attack as Islamic State nears Syria’s stockpile
(Worthy News)– The U.S. government is unprepared for a chemical attack against the homeland, a new report shows, even as the Islamic State takes responsibility for more terror attacks around the world and inches closer to gaining access to Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, the Washington Times reported.
Human rights activists say between March 16 and June 9, Syria’s civil defense teams responded to 23 air raids, which dropped 46 barrel bombs containing chlorine gas on civilians.
Although the U.S. military helped to remove chemical stockpiles from Syria in 2013 and 2014 as part of an international effort to eliminate the country’s chemical weapons program, it appears some of those weapons were hidden away during the elimination process, said James Phillips, a senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at The Heritage Foundation.
Now analysts are worried the Islamic State may be inching itself closer to those stockpiles. The Syrian government’s continued use of chemical weapons is not only “an inconvenient truth that the Obama administration has turned a blind eye to” as it moves toward trying to seal a nuclear deal with Iran, but a tempting asset to Islamic State militants working to gain traction in Syria, Mr. Phillips said. —Source