By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
A resupply bundle intended for Kurdish forces fighting ISIL militants in the strategic Syrian town of Kobani might instead have been seized by ISIL, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
The news comes one day after a video uploaded to YouTube by the militant’s social media supporters purportedly showed a parachuted resupply bundle in ISIL possession.
Pentagon spokeswoman Cmdr. Elissa Smith said that it is “possible” that the video could be that of a missing U.S. resupply bundle. Of a total of 28 bundles dropped overnight Sunday, she confirmed that two went astray.
“Although initial indications were that all but one resupply bundle was successfully delivered, a subsequent review has determined that a second resupply bundle was not recovered by anti-ISIL forces and may have been seized by ISIL,” she said.
The other bundle was “successfully destroyed” by coalition aircraft, according to Smith.
“Even with the loss of two bundles, the vast majority of the supplies intended for anti-ISL forces reached their hands,” she said. “The mission was successful.”
Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the loss of the two bundles is not reason to reconsider further drops to resupply Kurdish forces.
The development comes as the U.S. continued to pound ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Six airstrikes near Kobani continued to degrade ISIL forces there, destroying fighting positions, two vehicles, an ISIL building and a logistical center, according to U.S. Central Command.
In Iraq, 12 airstrikes destroyed a large ISIL unit, a mortar launching position, three ISIL vehicles and multiple fighting positions near Mosul Dam.
ISIL has ramped up efforts to retake the dam in recent days after Iraqi forces reclaimed it from the militants in August.
www.aa.com.tr/en
