A member of the Iraqi army holds his weapon during an operation to search for weapons in the Arabi neighborhood in Mosul.

An Iraqi officer says Iraqi forces discovered sulfur mustard, a chemical warfare agent, in Mosul alongside a cache of Russian surface-to-surface missiles.

Iraqi special forces Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said French officials tested the chemical agent this week and confirmed it was sulfur mustard.

Iraqi forces showed journalists a tank of the chemical agent and a warehouse of more than a dozen surface-to-surface rockets bearing Russian inscriptions in eastern Mosul.

Fadhil said the types of rockets found lead him to suspect the Islamic State group was experimenting with the rockets to develop a way to weaponize the chemical agent.

Iraqi and US officials have repeatedly warned of ISIS efforts to develop chemical weapons. The extremist group has launched attacks using low-grade chemical weapons in Iraq, causing a handful of casualties.

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