Islamic State uses improvised weapons in the battle for Mosul

The Islamic State’s Ninawa province has released a 30-plus minute video promoting the jihadists’ role in the battle for Mosul, Iraq. The propaganda production is intended to buttress perceptions of the group’s capabilities, even as it loses ground in and around the city.
Still, it provides a useful overview of the so-called caliphate’s improvised weapons of war, as well as the tactics the jihadists have employed to prolong the conflict.

Screenshots from the video can be seen below.

The Islamic State has become especially adept at turning various makes and models of cars into vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs). Armor is fixed to large and small vehicles alike in order to make it more difficult for Iraqi and American forces to destroy them before they reach their target.

The US has been able to take out dozens of VBIEDs before their drivers could complete their missions. But the video showcases some of the jihadists’ more successful bombings. In one instance, one VBIED is driven into a security checkpoint and then a second snakes its way through an apartment complex until reaching the target. The footage is recorded from above, likely using small commercial-style drones, which have become a common tool for both the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

The Islamic State is unashamed of its use of children (or young adolescents) and handicapped men in suicide VBIED attacks. The youth are portrayed as “martyrs,” even though they are more accurately described as victims. The jihadists have used captured Yazidi children and others in its “martyrdom” operations.

Some, perhaps all, of the handicapped men shown operating VBIEDs were probably injured while fighting for Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s cause. So their “martyrdom” is likely more willing.

Similar to its use of VBIEDs on the ground, the Islamic State has modified drones such that they can carry and deliver a small payload from above. The Ninawa province’s video dramatizes such attacks, showing the drones hovering over their targets and then dropping their bombs. In one short scene, a jihadist mans what appears to be a control station filled with computers and screens that allow him to guide the weapons to their drop sites.

In another scene, an Islamic State member uses a game console controller to fire rockets at his foes.

The video ends with footage of various snipers hitting Iraqi personnel at some distance.

Source: /Long War Journal