BLUF: [Free Beacon] The Obama administration began covertly supplying weapons to moderate Syrian rebel groups in 2013 to combat the Assad regime. President Donald Trump ended the secretive CIA operation in July, but a publicly known federal program to arm the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS remains in place.
The report found no evidence of SDF weapons falling into the hands of ISIS.
CAR said all of the weapons purchased by the United States were manufactured in European Union states, raising the prospect that the Pentagon violated international contracts.
"At the very least, the diversion of weapons documented in this report has eroded the trust that exporting authorities placed in the recipient governments," the authors wrote. "At worst, the diversions occurred in violation of signed agreements that commit recipient governments not to retransfer materiel without the exporter's prior consent."
Though the terrorist group often showcased American-made weapons presumably seized from Iraqi security forces in its propaganda videos, the majority of arms captured by ISIS came from Russia and China.
Roughly 90 percent of weapons and ammunition deployed by ISIS were manufactured in China, Russia, and Eastern European countries, with Moscow and Beijing accounting for more than 50 percent, according to the report. By comparison, NATO-produced weapons and ammunition accounted for 3 percent and 13 percent of ISIS's arsenal, respectively.