WASHINGTON, D.C.-- CBS News learned Wednesday that U.S. Special Operation forces in northern Iraq have captured an ISIS commander who was developing chemical weapons. Among them -- mustard gas -- first used by Germany in World War I.
Mustard gas is not lethal in most cases, but can cause severe burns to the eyes, skin and lungs. And so it is banned by the civilized world.
Mustard gas is not lethal in most cases, but can cause severe burns to the eyes, skin and lungs. And so it is banned by the civilized world.
Video
appears to show the aftermath of an ISIS chemical weapons attack using a
mustard agent in Syria last year. But a recent operation mounted by
Delta Force Commando inside Iraq may have disrupted future chemical
attacks by ISIS.
In a raid last month, Delta captured an ISIS chemical weapons expert, an Iraqi who had once worked for the regime of Saddam Hussein. After interrogating him, U.S. intelligence was able to identify a building in Mosul where mustard agent was manufactured and loaded into artillery shells.
The video released by the British Defense Ministry shows a building described as an ISIS weapons factory being destroyed by an air strike this past weekend.
By Pentagon count, ISIS has mounted a dozen chemical weapons attacks in Iraq and Syria, a fact confirmed by CIA Director John Brennan in a "60 Minutes" interview.
"We have a number of instances where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield," Brennan said.
ISIS has access to chemical artillery shells?
"There are reports that ISIS has access to chemical precursors and munitions that they can use," Brennan said.
Just the day before the strike on the chemical weapons building, U.S. aircraft targeted a top ISIS commander, known by the alias Omar the Chechen, who the Pentagon considered to be the equivalent of the group's Secretary of Defense.
U.S. intelligence is still trying to confirm if he was in fact killed.
And this evening, news of what appears to be an intelligence goldmine -- the names, addresses, and phone numbers of some 20,000 ISIS fighters from countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America, reportedly given to London's Sky News by a disgruntled member of ISIS.
CBS News consultant Richard Walton, former head of counter terrorism for Scotland Yard, said that if the documents are authentic this would be one of the most significant intelligence finds since ISIS was created.
In a raid last month, Delta captured an ISIS chemical weapons expert, an Iraqi who had once worked for the regime of Saddam Hussein. After interrogating him, U.S. intelligence was able to identify a building in Mosul where mustard agent was manufactured and loaded into artillery shells.
The video released by the British Defense Ministry shows a building described as an ISIS weapons factory being destroyed by an air strike this past weekend.
By Pentagon count, ISIS has mounted a dozen chemical weapons attacks in Iraq and Syria, a fact confirmed by CIA Director John Brennan in a "60 Minutes" interview.
"We have a number of instances where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield," Brennan said.
ISIS has access to chemical artillery shells?
"There are reports that ISIS has access to chemical precursors and munitions that they can use," Brennan said.
Just the day before the strike on the chemical weapons building, U.S. aircraft targeted a top ISIS commander, known by the alias Omar the Chechen, who the Pentagon considered to be the equivalent of the group's Secretary of Defense.
U.S. intelligence is still trying to confirm if he was in fact killed.
And this evening, news of what appears to be an intelligence goldmine -- the names, addresses, and phone numbers of some 20,000 ISIS fighters from countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America, reportedly given to London's Sky News by a disgruntled member of ISIS.
CBS News consultant Richard Walton, former head of counter terrorism for Scotland Yard, said that if the documents are authentic this would be one of the most significant intelligence finds since ISIS was created.
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B)Germany says it has obtained files on ISIS members
BERLIN
— Germany's federal criminal police said Thursday they are in
possession of files containing personal data on members of the extremist
Islamic State group and believe them to be authentic.
The announcement came after Britain's Sky News reported it had obtained 22,000 ISIS files on the border with Turkey and Syria, files that detail ISIS fighters' real names, where they were from, telephone numbers, and even names of those who sponsored and recruited the militants.
Though the significance of these files is yet to be gauged, they could be the largest yet treasure trove of documents found on ISIS and the most significant leak on its past and present fighters and operations across the Middle East.
They could also shape the campaign against the extremist group, which emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq. The cache, exposing its members and their families, could undermine its future ability to recruit and inspire would-be members.
Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, said the information could help the coalition fight ISIS by aiding in a crackdown on the group's foreign fighter networks.
He
said that while he was not able to verify the documents, he hoped that
"if there is a media outlet that has these names and numbers, I hope
they publish them." This would help bring attention to the problem of
foreign fighters joining ISIS and would help law enforcement crack down
on the problem, he said.
"This would allow the law enforcement apparatus across the world to become much more engaged and begin to help do what we can to stem this flow of foreign fighters — so we're hopeful that its accurate and if so we certainly plan to do everything we can to help," he said.
Sky said the files were passed on to them on a memory stick stolen from the head of ISIS' internal security police by a former fighter who had grown disillusioned with the group.
Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported it had also obtained "dozens" of similar files on the Turkey-Syria border, where it said ISIS files and videos were widely available from anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters and also members of the Islamic State group itself.
A
spokeswoman for Germany's Bundeskriminalamt, speaking on condition of
anonymity to discuss the matter with the media, said her agency is
currently evaluating the files. She declined to say where the agency
obtained the files, how many documents are involved and how long it has
had them.
Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported it had also obtained "dozens" of similar files on the Turkey-Syria border, where it said ISIS files and videos were widely available from anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters and also members of the Islamic State group itself.
Both Sky and the Sueddeutsche reported that the documents were forms with 23 questions filled out by recruits when they were inducted into the Islamic State group. Sky said they included nationals from at least 51 countries.
The material also seems to have the potential to help authorities crack recruitment networks in Europe and elsewhere that have been sending fighters to join ISIS, which has seized large swaths of land in Syria and Iraq and declared a self-styled caliphate on the territory under its control.
Markus Koths, a spokesman for Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundeskriminalamt, told The Associated Press that it had Islamic State personnel file documents such as those obtained by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. He would not comment on specifics about either the Sky or Sueddeutsche reports amid an ongoing investigation, and also would not say how German intelligence obtained the documents or how long they have been in its possession, "for tactical reasons."
He did say, however: "We believe there is a high probability that these documents are genuine."
"These documents are of significance for us for prosecutorial reasons and for threat prevention," he said.
Similar documents, which have not yet been independently verified, were posted by Zaman al-Wasl, a pro-Syrian opposition website.
The documents that Zaman al-Wasl published had the word "secret" at the bottom, while on the top it had the name Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on one corner and the General Directorate of Borders on the left corner on top. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant was the official name of the group before ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Islamic State caliphate in June 2014 after the group captured wide areas of Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul, the country's second largest.
The documents posted by the website stated that the fighters entered areas under ISIL control in 2013, except for one of a Turkish citizen born in 1989 who entered on May 12, 2014.
ISIL was formed in 2013 when al-Qaida's branches in Iraq and Syria, known as the Islamic State in Iraq, and the Nusra Front briefly merged. After they split in early 2013, those under al-Baghdadi's comment kept using the name ISIL until the caliphate was declared.
The date of the documents suggest they may not provide information on ISIS' current membership, but will offer insight into fighters recruited in 2013 as well as ISIS' bureaucratic systems.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the dpa news agency that the material would give authorities a better chance to track down and prosecute people who had fought with ISIS.
The announcement came after Britain's Sky News reported it had obtained 22,000 ISIS files on the border with Turkey and Syria, files that detail ISIS fighters' real names, where they were from, telephone numbers, and even names of those who sponsored and recruited the militants.
Though the significance of these files is yet to be gauged, they could be the largest yet treasure trove of documents found on ISIS and the most significant leak on its past and present fighters and operations across the Middle East.
They could also shape the campaign against the extremist group, which emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq. The cache, exposing its members and their families, could undermine its future ability to recruit and inspire would-be members.
Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, said the information could help the coalition fight ISIS by aiding in a crackdown on the group's foreign fighter networks.
"This would allow the law enforcement apparatus across the world to become much more engaged and begin to help do what we can to stem this flow of foreign fighters — so we're hopeful that its accurate and if so we certainly plan to do everything we can to help," he said.
Sky said the files were passed on to them on a memory stick stolen from the head of ISIS' internal security police by a former fighter who had grown disillusioned with the group.
Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported it had also obtained "dozens" of similar files on the Turkey-Syria border, where it said ISIS files and videos were widely available from anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters and also members of the Islamic State group itself.
Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported it had also obtained "dozens" of similar files on the Turkey-Syria border, where it said ISIS files and videos were widely available from anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters and also members of the Islamic State group itself.
Both Sky and the Sueddeutsche reported that the documents were forms with 23 questions filled out by recruits when they were inducted into the Islamic State group. Sky said they included nationals from at least 51 countries.
The material also seems to have the potential to help authorities crack recruitment networks in Europe and elsewhere that have been sending fighters to join ISIS, which has seized large swaths of land in Syria and Iraq and declared a self-styled caliphate on the territory under its control.
Markus Koths, a spokesman for Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundeskriminalamt, told The Associated Press that it had Islamic State personnel file documents such as those obtained by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. He would not comment on specifics about either the Sky or Sueddeutsche reports amid an ongoing investigation, and also would not say how German intelligence obtained the documents or how long they have been in its possession, "for tactical reasons."
He did say, however: "We believe there is a high probability that these documents are genuine."
"These documents are of significance for us for prosecutorial reasons and for threat prevention," he said.
Similar documents, which have not yet been independently verified, were posted by Zaman al-Wasl, a pro-Syrian opposition website.
The documents that Zaman al-Wasl published had the word "secret" at the bottom, while on the top it had the name Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on one corner and the General Directorate of Borders on the left corner on top. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant was the official name of the group before ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Islamic State caliphate in June 2014 after the group captured wide areas of Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul, the country's second largest.
The documents posted by the website stated that the fighters entered areas under ISIL control in 2013, except for one of a Turkish citizen born in 1989 who entered on May 12, 2014.
ISIL was formed in 2013 when al-Qaida's branches in Iraq and Syria, known as the Islamic State in Iraq, and the Nusra Front briefly merged. After they split in early 2013, those under al-Baghdadi's comment kept using the name ISIL until the caliphate was declared.
The date of the documents suggest they may not provide information on ISIS' current membership, but will offer insight into fighters recruited in 2013 as well as ISIS' bureaucratic systems.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the dpa news agency that the material would give authorities a better chance to track down and prosecute people who had fought with ISIS.
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