Special to WorldTribune.com

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) is reportedly using chemical agents in bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against Kurdish forces and civilians in Syria and Iraq.

Two U.K.-based groups, Conflict Armament Research (CAR) and Sahan Research, reported ISIL’s use of chlorine and other chemicals on at least three occasions in June.

Two of the incidents occurred in Hasakah province in northern Syria, where ISIL is fighting the Kurdish YPG group. The third involved a 120mm mortar (which failed to explode) that landed near Kurdish positions at the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq.

CAR reported it was “the first documented use by (ISIL) forces of projectile-delivered chemical agents against Kurdish forces and civilian targets.”

James Bevan, executive director of CAR, said a week after the attack, investigators found the dark yellow liquid leaking from the mortar still emitted a powerful odor. “The investigation team also experienced headaches and nausea when in close proximity to the projectile/agent,” Bevan said, citing symptoms consistent with exposure to a chlorine chemical agent.

CAR and Sahan Research also investigated possible chemical munitions that ISIL launched in northern Syria — at Tel Brak and Hasakah. ISIL “fired a whole range of projectiles at a Kurdish YPG unit outpost” on June 28, Bevan said. The munitions were said to have caused “loss of focus; loss of consciousness in some cases; pain from the waist down, resulting in temporary, localized paralysis” and other problems.

Researchers who examined fragments of munitions at Tel Brak said they were covered in a chemical residue which still had an acrid odor and caused powerful throat and eye irritation. The researchers reported that, at a hospital in Qamishli, several fighters tested positive for PH3, a phosphine-based chemical used as an insecticide or fumigating compound.

CAR reported that a home in Hasakah was struck by a rocket that contained a dark olive green chemical liquid. The munition was fired from a village about four kilometers away which was then under the control of ISIL, Bevan said. Investigating teams found residues that “emitted an acrid odor and induced powerful throat and eye irritation.”

Malik Ellahi, spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, told CNN that “any use of toxic chemicals as weapons constitutes use of chemical weapons which is clearly prohibited by the Chemical Weapons convention.”

  Conflict Armament Research, Mosul Dam, Reports: ISIL using chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq, Sahan Research, WorldTribune.com, YPG