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Air defense equipment, other arms in Daesh hands in Syria, US warns

Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri militants (file photo)

The United States is warning that the Daesh Takfiri group may use new arms it has seized in the Syrian city of Palmyra.

The head of the US military forces, officially tasked with tackling ISIL (Daesh) in Ira q and Syria, made the warning via a Pentagon video briefing on Wednesday.

According to US Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the terrorists recently seized armored vehicles and air defense equipment in the city, located in the central Homs province.

"I'm not really exactly sure ... what they've seized there. We believe it includes some armored vehicles and various guns and other heavy weapons, possibly some air defense equipment," said Townsend (pictured above), warning that the new gain could end up dangerous for the US-led coalition, which is engaged in airstrikes purportedly against Daesh.

"Basically anything they seized poses a threat to the coalition but we can manage those threats and we will."

Palmyra was re-occupied by the Takfiri forces over the weekend.

Part of the remains of Arch of Triumph, also called the Monumental Arch of Palmyra, that was destroyed by Daesh in October 2015 in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. (Photo by AFP)

Townsend suggested that the US would strike the weapons when the time is ripe, also indicating that the Syrian Army’s victory in Aleppo would not complicate efforts by the US and its allied forces to liberate Daesh’s de facto capital, Raqqah.

The US says it is fighting Daesh Takfiris at the head of a coalition, launching airstrikes against their hideouts in Syria and Iraq.

The US-led coalition has been accused of targeting Syrian forces at times while its airstrikes have done little to stop Daesh.

Daesh terrorists, who were among the militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Iraq and Syria.


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