Islamic State: its weapons and where it gets them

Islamic State militants fighting across Syria and Iraq have amassed a lethal armoury of American rifles, Chinese machine guns, and anti-tank rockets manufactured in the former Yugoslavia.

A study by the London-based Conflict Armament Research consultancy found that the jihadist group has collected arms from at least ten different sources, including a large number of US weapons.

Researchers from the consultancy put together a list of weapons captured from IS by Kurdish militias during ten days of heavy fighting in July.

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What weapons does Islamic State possess?

The weapons identified by researchers include a number of US M16 rifles, two Chinese Type 80 machine guns, two Yugoslav M-79 rockets, a Croatian sniper rifle, a 9mm Glock pistol and a collection of different Soviet-era small arms. Below are the arms the researchers found.

M79 'Osa' 90mm HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) rockets

According to The Guardian, the weapon that researchers found most interesting was the discovery of the two M-79 rockets that were "identical to a batch of such weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to rebels in southern Syria in January 2013". The two M79 90mm anti-tank rockets were manufactured in 1983 in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). The rockets were captured in Tal Khinzir, west of Ras al-Ayn, Syria, in mid-June 2014.

M16 A4 5.56 x 45mm assault rifles

Eight American assault rifles, seven made by FN Manufacturing and one by Colt Defense were identified by researchers. The weapons are stamped "Property of US Govt." and are thought to have been stolen from fleeing Iraqi forces, who had themselves been given them when the US military withdrew from Iraq in 2011.

AKM 7.62 x 39 mm assault rifles

Researchers found six assault rifles of Soviet origin dating from 1960, 1964, and 1970.

PKM and PK-pattern M80 7.62 x 54R mm machine guns

Four of these Chinese machine guns were captured in Avdoké, Syria, on 13 July 2014.

HS Produkt HS-9 9 x 19mm semi-automatic pistol.

A Croatian pistol made by a firm founded in Croatia in the early 1990s was captured north of Bara, Sinjar Mountains, Iraq on 4 August 2014.

XM15-E2S 5.56 x 45mm semi-automatic rifle

One of the US-made semi-automatic rifles, manufactured by Bushmaster Firearms International was captured to the north of Bara, Sinjar Mountains, Iraq, on 4 August. The rifle is in service in military and police organisations in many countries around the world including New Zealand, Malaysia and South Korea.

Glock G19 9 x 19mm semi-automatic pistol

This Austrian pistol was also captured north of Bara, Sinjar Mountains, Iraq, on 4 August.

Elmech EM-992 7.62 x 51mm sniper rifle

This Croatian sniper rifle was taken in Avdoké, Syria, on 13 July 13 2014.

Type 79 7.62 x 54Rmm sniper rifle

A sniper rifle from China manufactured in 1985 was seized in Avdoké, Syria on 13 July 2014.

FN Herstal Browning Hi-Power 9 x 19 mm semi-automatic pistol

This Belgian pistol was also collected in Avdoké, Syria on July 13, 2014.

In northern Syria, IS are also using Humvees and armoured troop carriers supplied by the US to Iraq, The Guardian reports. According to US State Department spokesman Brett McGurk, American jets are now targeting IS vehicles and mortars with air strikes

Barack Obama is expected to give a speech on Wednesday – the eve of the 9/11 anniversary – to outline plans for how he intends to "degrade and destroy" the jihadis.

The US president said that he was "preparing the country" to confront IS: "The next phase is now to start going on some offence," he said. "But this is not going to be an announcement about US ground troops. This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war. What this is is similar to the kinds of counter-terrorism campaigns that we've been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven years."