Republicans Press Pentagon Over U.S.-Made Weapons in Hamas’s Hands

Lawmakers want answers from the Pentagon on how U.S.-made weapons may have ended up in the hands of Hamas terrorists who slaughtered Israeli civilians.

A young boy holds a U.S.-made M4A1 rifle during a rally of Hamas supporters, at the Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza Strip, on Dec. 12, 2014. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

Citing reports that advanced U.S.-made firearms have ended up in the possession of the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza, several House Oversight Committee Republicans are demanding answers from the Pentagon about what’s being done to ensure that American-made weapons don’t end up in the wrong hands.

“The Committee has seen reports that U.S.-manufactured weapons are being redistributed and resold in secondary markets to terrorist organizations, including Hamas,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote in an Oct. 23 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Mr. Comer and Ms. Greene cited a series of media reports indicating that U.S.-made weapons were being diverted and ending up in the hands of terrorists.

One source of the U.S.-made weapons is reportedly the roughly $7 billion stockpile left behind in the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Another is related to arms that the United States is providing to Ukraine amid its war with Russia but are being diverted to the Middle East by various actors, including gun-smuggling criminal groups.

“The potential possession of U.S. weapons by terrorists is alarming in light of the terrorist group’s recent horrific attack on Israel,” the lawmakers wrote, referring to the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas operatives that killed about 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians—many of them in barbaric fashion.

In their letter, they demanded a staff briefing from the Pentagon by the end of October on what procedures the Department of Defense (DoD) has in place “for preventing, addressing, and mitigating weapon diversion abroad.”

DOD officials didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment.

A Ukrainian serviceman checks his U.S-made M4A1 carbine after cleaning it at a base in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2023. Yasuyoshi Chima/AFP/Getty Images

‘Arsenal of Anarchy’

Another media report cited by Mr. Comer and Ms. Greene is a June 15 Newsweek article that said the Israeli military was concerned that U.S.-made weapons provided to Ukraine were being diverted and ending up in the hands of Israel’s enemies in the Middle East, citing a high-ranking Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander.

“We are very worried that some of these capabilities are going to fall to Hezbollah and Hamas’ hands,” the IDF commander told the publication.

Since the Russia–Ukraine conflict erupted in February 2022, the United States has sent more than $46 billion in military assistance to Kyiv, sparking concern that some of that massive flow of arms could be diverted to other regions.

While a report in March from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime found that “there is currently no substantial outflow of weapons from the Ukrainian conflict zone,” the authors warned of the prospect of serious proliferation.

When the war ends, “Ukraine’s battlefields could and will become the new arsenal of anarchy, arming everyone from insurgents in Africa to gangsters in the streets of Europe,” the report’s authors warned in a statement.

While it’s impossible to tell without further investigation where the weapons are coming from, it’s been alleged that some U.S.-made weapons are finding their way to Gaza and into the hands of Hamas.

In their letter, the GOP lawmakers said that “recently released photos show Hamas terrorists allegedly holding what appear to be M4A1 Carbines,” a type of weapon that they note is specially designed for U.S. special operations forces.

“This would not be the first time our military service members and allies have been targeted by terrorist organizations misappropriating American-made weapons,” the lawmakers wrote, citing the massive arsenal that ended up in the hands of the Taliban.

A Ukrainian serviceman checks his U.S-made M4A1 carbine after cleaning it at a base in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2023. Yasuyoshi Chima/AFP/Getty Images

Taliban Seized US Weapons, Equipment

When U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, billions of dollars of American-made weapons and equipment fell into the hands of the Taliban.

“U.S.-funded equipment valued at $7.12 billion was in the inventory of the former Afghan government when it collapsed, much of which has since been seized by the Taliban,” a Pentagon watchdog reported in August 2022.

The report, which was confirmed by the DoD, indicated that the equipment included military aircraft, ground vehicles, weapons, and other military equipment: specifically items such as Black Hawk helicopters and Humvees, as well as small but sophisticated arms such as M16 assault rifles and M4 carbines.

“We have already seen Taliban fighters armed with U.S.-made weapons they seized from the Afghan forces,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the current House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, told Reuters in an email last year. “This poses a significant threat to the United States and our allies,”

Weapons left behind by U.S. forces during the Afghanistan withdrawal have made their way into other conflict zones, including in India-controlled Kashmir, which some terrorist groups are trying to annex for Pakistan, Lt. Col. Emron Musavi, an Indian army spokesperson, told CNBC in an email last year.

“It can be safely assumed that they have access to the weapons left behind,” he told the outlet, amid reports that operatives from Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, two Pakistan-based groups that have been designated by the United States as terrorist organizations, had been spotted with U.S.-made arms, including M4s and M16s.

Rows of military vehicles that had been transferred by the United States to the Afghan army, in February 2021. Afghanistan Ministry of Defense/via Reuters

Taliban militants stand guard at an entrance gate outside the Interior Ministry in Kabul, on Aug. 17, 2021. Javed Tanveer/AFP via Getty Images

Demands for Oversight

The letter from Mr. Comer and Ms. Greene isn’t the first time that GOP lawmakers have pressed the Pentagon about U.S.-made weapons falling into the wrong hands. Shortly after the Afghanistan withdrawal, several Republican senators demanded that the DoD provide a full accounting of the weapons and equipment that had been captured.

“As we watched the images coming out of Afghanistan as the Taliban retook the country, we were horrified to see U.S. equipment—including UH-60 Black Hawks—in the hands of the Taliban," Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and two dozen other GOP senators wrote to Mr. Austin. “It is unconscionable that high-tech military equipment paid for by U.S. taxpayers has fallen into the hands of the Taliban and their terrorist allies.

“Securing U.S. assets should have been among the top priorities for the U.S. Department of Defense prior to announcing the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”