Iraqi official: Military planes dropped weapons to ISIS fighters by mistake

An Iraqi official revealed today that Iraqi air force planes dropped weapons and ammunition to ISIS by mistake. The planes had intended to drop the weapons to security forces that are besieged by ISIS in Baiji oil refinery in northern Iraq.

Iskandar Witwit, a member of parliament’s security committee, told the Anadolu Agency that “Iraqi army planes dropped weapons and ammunition to the Iraqi security forces that are besieged by ISIS in Baiji oil refinery, but the dropping operation was mistaken. This enabled ISIS members to seize most of the weapons.” He did not specify the date of the incident or the type or number of weapons.

The Islamic State organisation (ISIS) has been seeking for weeks to seize complete control of the Baiji oil refinery, which is considered the biggest refinery in Iraq, although its attempts have been stopped on multiple occasions by forces protecting the refinery and military reinforcements. This has recently driven the government to support the protection of the refinery.

Since ISIS began to seize control of major sites in the northern and western areas of the country last summer, the refinery stopped its operations.

Before it stopped operations, the refinery produced 170,000 barrels of oil derivatives consumed locally.

Witwit explained that ISIS is gaining progress in a number of areas in the country in the eastern area of Fallujah in the Anbar governorate. He noted that the ISIS fighters greatly progressed in the past few hours, towards the Tareq camp where joint forces of the Golden Team (state forces) and the eastern Fallujah army forces are located.