An ISIS chemical weapons expert in U.S. custody confessed that the Islamic extremists have plans to use banned substances for attacks in Iraq and Syria, according to defense officials. The detainee, Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, said that ISIS has weaponized mustard gas into a powder and put it in artillery shells; defense officials say that while the mustard gas isn't concentrated to the point of being deadly, it could maim victims.
Although chemical warfare is condemned internationally, ISIS has long been suspected of conducting attacks using sulfur mustard and mustard gas, The New York Times reports. In the past, ISIS victims' clothes were found to have the presence of partially degraded HD, or distilled sulfur mustard, which burns a person's skin, airways, and eyes. It isn't known how ISIS obtained the materials to make chemical weapons, but the former Iraqi government and current Syrian government are known to have had the means.
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