By Laurent BARTHELEMY
The US-led coalition has carried out the first air strikes on Islamic State chemical weapons sites, the Pentagon said Thursday, acting on information from a senior operative described as the extremists' top chemical expert.
The successful "multiple" bombings came as a result of detailed intelligence from Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar, also known as Abu Dawud, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, confirming Dawud's capture by US special forces in Iraq last month.
The snaring of Dawud, who was transferred Thursday into Iraqi custody after interrogation, appears to be a major boon in the fight against the IS group in Iraq and Syria, and Cook said it had yielded almost immediate results as well as critical information for the future.
Cook described Dawud as "ISIL's emir of chemical and traditional weapons manufacturing."
"His capture removed a key ISIL leader from the battlefield and provided the coalition with important information about ISIL's chemical weapons capabilities," Cook said, using an alternative acronym for the IS extremists.
Read the full story at SpaceWar