Terrorists’ Procurement of Weapons in the Middle East

By Sabrina Pecorelli

Weapons are one of the most fundamental aspects of terrorism, allowing for the targeted implementation of fear through violence and chaos. They represent a means to an end, a tool that executes actions intended to achieve a specific political goal. Weapons come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of lethality-- from knives or guns to suicide bombs, or rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs)- all of which allow terrorist organizations to carry out a wide range of attacks on different scales. However, weapon procurement is neither easy nor legal, especially in the large quantities that terrorist organizations seek.

So, how do terrorists get their weapons?

Unfortunately for counterterrorism measures, there are numerous ways that extremist groups can acquire weapons. Even further complicating counterterrorism, there can be an overlap between the legitimate arms industry and illicit channels. The easiest ways of procuring large amounts of quality weapons tend to be through state sponsors and battlefield seizures- but there are more unconventional methods like theft, corruption, and the dark net. Due to this, terrorist groups in the Middle East have reportedly used American, Russian, Chinese weapons as well as locally sourced ones.

Weapons from foreign sources have to make their way to the Middle East. Due to the high volume of inter and intra state conflicts in the region, the Middle East is one of the most armed areas of the world. The Middle East accounts for an estimated 35% of global arms imports between 2015 and 2019. The region also serves as a key player in the international balance of power, where foreign countries compete for influence through billions of dollars in arms sales. The United States remains the largest supplier of weapons to the Middle East, contributing 52% of arms imports compared to 13% from Russia and 12% from France.

However, sometimes the weapons that are sold legally in congressionally approved arms deals fall into the hands of terrorists. This can happen either willingly by the receiving party through state sponsored terrorism or illegally through battlefield seizures. 

Examples of State-Sponsored Spending

One of the most prominent contemporary examples of state sponsors of terrorism is Iran, whom the United States officially designated as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ in 1984. The Islamic Republic reportedly spends about $1 billion a year on terrorism, and more than half of the funds go to Lebanese Hezbollah while some go to Palestinian Hamas, among others. These terrorism funds provide weapons, training, and other resources that allow these organizations to carry out attacks around the world and further their own political agenda. Allegedly, Hezbollah has accumulated roughly 150,000 missiles and rockets with short, mid, and long ranges, as well as aircrafts and tanks.

Additionally, Tehran has also gotten involved in Yemen and has provided the Shia Houthi rebels with advanced weapons. Yemen’s civil war split the country between the Saudi-supported government and the Iranian-backed rebels, acting as yet another proxy in the region. Iran supplies the Houthis with weapons to counter Saudi, and moreover American influence, while Saudi Arabia tries to counter Iranian aggression by supporting the Yemeni government. 

Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is not officially on the state sponsors of terrorism list, it has passively supported terrorist organizations in the past. Saudi Arabia constitutes the largest importer of major arms in the world and 79% of those imports are from the United States. Therefore, when KSA supports a terrorist organization, it sometimes provides them with American weapons. An investigation into this matter found that Saudi Arabia provided al-Qaeda linked fighters and hardline Salafi jihadist militias with American-made weapons. Some of these weapons ended up in the hands of Iranian backed militias, exposing American technologies to Tehran.

Additionally, a study conducted between 2014 and 2017, on the provenance of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) weapons found that about 90% of their weaponry came from Russia, China, or Eastern Europe. Most of these weapons had Russian origins and were delivered to the region at the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, intended to supply either government or opposition forces. Some of the weapons ISIS used were also traced back to the United States and Saudi Arabia. 

Battlefield Seizures

Another prominent way that terrorists can come to possess advanced foreign weaponry is through battlefield seizures, where groups essentially capture materials from the sites of battles won, or conquered territory. The most recent and evident example of this was in Afghanistan, when the Taliban took control of the country, the group also came to possess the military hardware that was left behind by American forces. This led to a huge cache of new weapons for the Taliban, including 900 guns, 30 light tactical vehicles, and 20 army pickup trucks of U.S. origin.

The Islamic State also seized vast amounts of small and large weapons during its rise to global infamy in the mid 2010s. As the group conquered vast amounts of land in Iraq and Syria, it also took over government facilities and manufacturing plants. ISIS captured a Syrian air base in 2013 and Iraq’s largest city in 2014, seizing “millions of dollars’ worth of American and foreign artillery and equipment”.

There are numerous other ways that terrorists procure weapons. For instance, the dark web offers the ideal anonymous environment for users to buy and sell almost anything, including artillery, machinery, equipment, and materials for bombs. Terrorists also take advantage of corrupt government officials when trying to buy weapons, or in the Taliban’s case, the group allegedly infiltrated the Afghan security forces and may have procured weapons through that effort. There have also been instances where organizations have manufactured homemade weapons, like in Palestine, where Hamas developed its own version of foreign missiles with spare parts.

Overall, the sheer extensiveness of the legal and illegal arms networks in the world provides terrorists with numerous options to get weapons. Sometimes these networks are so broad that American weapons sold to Saudi Arabia and lent to Houthi rebels in Yemen can land in the hands of terrorists fighting the very country that manufactured the equipment. Exploring weapon procurement is a fundamental aspect of counterterrorism, as blocking weapon transfers and ensuring that organizations are cut-off from lethal resources could have crippling effects to terrorist groups everywhere.