Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Iran’s leading proxy is promoting it acquisition of a U.S.-origin main battle tank.

A Hizbullah video showed a 60-vehicle convoy in Iraq with the M1A1 main battle tank, Long War Journal reported. The video, posted on YouTube, showed an Abrams MBT as well as the U.S.-origin M113 armored personnel carriers and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected or MRAP.

The convoy of Hizbullah Brigades, said to be inspired and linked to Lebanon’s Hizbullah, also showed the Safir 4×4 armored vehicle developed by Iran. Hizbullah flew its flag over the Abrams and other U.S. vehicles.

The Abrams was seen on a U.S.-origin tank transporter. The video did not indicate where Hizbullah acquired the U.S. armored vehicles.

The Iraq Army lost scores of M1A1 in the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant offensive in the north in June 2014, Middle East Newsline reported. The United States has acknowledged that more than 2,000 American-origin vehicles, most of them Humvees, were captured by ISIL in its takeover of Mosul.

The Long War Journal said the U.S. vehicles appear to have been transported to the ISIL front. The website said it was unclear whether the Iraq Army relayed the Abrams to Hizbullah, classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

“Despite this, the group was assisted by U.S. air strikes when Iraqi and Kurdish forces broke the siege of Amerli in Saleh Eddin province,” Long War Journal said.

  Iran-backed Hizbullah shows off U.S. Abrams tank on YouTube, Iran-backed Hizbullah shows off U.S. main battle tank on YouTube, WorldTribune.com