Washington presses Baghdad to recover Abrams tanks

Washington presses Baghdad to recover Abrams tanks

After being used against the Kurds ...

22/02/2018 - 02:13 Reports



The US Daily Press reported that the Pentagon was pressuring the Iraqi government to recover US tanks, which were seized by Iranian-backed grass-roots militias after being proven against the Peshmerga forces.

According to the report, the militia mobilized the hands of nine sophisticated tanks M-1 at the beginning of 2015, as recognized by the US government this beginning of this month, noting that with this recognition, the Ministries of Defense and State Department said they are trying to restore.

"The damage eventually took place, as the Iranian militia used tanks against US Kurdish allies in the Kurdistan Region," the newspaper said.

"We recognize that the equipment provided by the United States is not entirely under the control of the recipient," the US-led coalition spokesman said in an e-mail. "The United States continues to work with the Iraqi government, move quickly, All defensive returned to the concerned party », pointing out that the Iraqi army has recovered a number of them.

According to the report, Iraq received 140 M-1 tanks from the United States, starting in 2008; in an attempt to build artillery teams, instead of those destroyed by the Americans during the US intervention in 2003, but the cost of the band is varying, The tank is about 4.3 million dollars.

The newspaper pointed out that when the organization urged the invasion of northwestern Iraq in 2014, the tanks were in the middle of the fighting, where the jihadists destroyed five of them, and damaged dozens, and controlled a number of them, pointing out that the organization was until last year has a number of tanks operating, But the so-called popular mobilization forces have taken control of some of them, the ones the US military has taken care of.

The report notes that an online video was published in January 2015, showing the M-1 flanked by the flag of the Hezbollah Brigades (Iraqiya), a terrorist group prepared by the United States, pointing out that a separate tape appeared in February 2016, With an M-1 tank, with the flag of the Martyrs Brigades, another battalion of the popular crowd.

The recovered tanks are part of nine tanks held by the jihadists, where the Iraqi army appears to have been directly supplied by the Iraqi army, in violation of the terms of the M-1 sale contract, the newspaper quoted a coalition spokesman as saying.

The newspaper reported that the Shiite militias deployed one tank Peshmerga forces during the clashes that took place during the control of Kirkuk in October 2017, and this was following the announcement of the Kurdistan Regional Government on the referendum on independence, «which was not supported by the United States, but the Kurds remain allies In the region, and Iran is its enemy, "according to the report.

According to the report, the Peshmerga destroyed the tank, through a Chinese or German-made anti-tank missile, and the Kurdistan Regional Government published images of the damaged tank, as evidence of the use of popular crowd of the American tank, noting that the damaged tank disappeared from the battlefield, accusing the leaders of the Peshmerga The Iraqi government tried to blur the truth, and it used the Abrams tank against the Peshmerga.

In this quarter, the State Department acknowledged that some US military equipment sent to support the mission, including nine tanks, M-1 Abrams fell into the hands of the Iranian-backed militias, which fought against a militant organization in Iraq. "

The Pentagon notes that the Pentagon is pressing Iraq to recapture any of the M-1 tanks in the hands of the Popular Army militia. "The recipient of US-origin defense equipment must comply with the terms of use of the equipment, as stated in the agreements reached, With the US government. "

The report shows that the United States may take action, such as suspending arms shipments in the future, and may have stopped sending M-1 tanks to Iraqi artillery.

The Daily Press concludes its report by noting that General Dynamics Land Systems in Michigan, which manufactures M-1 Abrams tanks and supplies spare parts and tank technicians, has threatened to sever ties with Baghdad; Tanks of this type.

http://www.basnews.com/index.php/ar/reports/417207