ISIS Was Built On Oil
ISIS has lost its caliphate. The infamous terrorist organization that just a few years ago had even the most powerful world leaders terrified as it snapped up more and more Continue Reading
Islamic State Members From the West Seek Help Getting Home
Members of the Syria Democratic Forces recently after taking control of a Syrian village from… Disenchanted Islamic State members recruited from the West have increasingly been contacting their governments and Continue Reading
U.N. targets Islamic State oil finance network
Finance ministers gathered at the United Nations said that, with millions of dollars coming from illegal oil sales, it was time to target Islamic State funding. “So far, ISIL has Continue Reading
Islamic State oil is going to Assad, some to Turkey: U.S. official
Russia’s defence ministry officials displayed satellite images on Wednesday which they said showed columns… Islamic State militants are engaged in oil trading worth as much as $40 million a month Continue Reading
ISIS Transforming Into Functioning State That Uses Terror as Tool
ISTANBUL — The Islamic State uses terror to force obedience and frighten enemies. It has seized territory, destroyed antiquities, slaughtered minorities, forced women into sexual slavery and turned children into killers. But its officials are apparently resistant to bribes, and in that way, at least, it has outdone the corrupt Syrian and Iraqi governments it routed, residents and experts say. “You can travel from Raqqa to Mosul and no one will dare to stop you even if you carry $1 million,” said Bilal, who lives in Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria , and out of fear insisted on being identified only by his first name. “No one would dare to take even one dollar.” The Islamic State, also known as ISIS , ISIL and Daesh, initially functioned solely as a terrorist organization, if one more coldblooded even than Al Qaeda. Then it went on to […]
Mosul insurgents challenge Islamic State occupiers
Members of the Islamic State militant group drive through Mosul on June 12, 2014. (STRINGER/Reuters) MOSUL – Members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group are being hunted in and around Mosul. Dozens of militants have been killed, mostly gunned down by assassins, over the past two months as the group that calls itself Kataib al-Mosul – the Mosul Brigades, in English – has launched a violent insurgency. "We finally decided to end our silence," said Fawaz al-Badrani, the pseudonym used by a leader of Kataib al-Mosul, who spoke to Iraq Oil Report by phone. "What we mainly sought for is the liberation of Mosul, even if it means cooperating with the devil himself." Badrani claims to have been a Republican Guard officer under Saddam Hussein. In addition to targeting IS fighters directly, his group has helped feed locations of IS military positions and other information to pro-government forces […]
Assad’s Forces May Be Aiding New ISIS Surge
ISTANBUL — Building on recent gains in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State militants are marching across northern Syria toward Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, helped along, their opponents say, by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad . In the countryside northeast of Aleppo on Tuesday, Islamic State fighters fought rival Syrian insurgents amid fears that the Islamic State was positioning itself to make Aleppo its next big prize. Syrian opposition leaders accused the Syrian government of essentially collaborating with the Islamic State, leaving the militants unmolested as they pressed a surprise offensive against other insurgent groups — even though the government and the Islamic State are nominal enemies — and instead striking the rival insurgents. At the same time, the rebels complained that the United States has refrained from contributing air support to help them fend off simultaneous attacks by the government and the Islamic State. The United States has […]
The Islamic State appears to fray from within
this undated file image posted on June 30, 2014, by the Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group, a Syrian opposition group, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in Raqqa. (Uncredited/AP) BEIRUT — The Islamic State appears to be starting to fray from within, as dissent, defections and setbacks on the battlefield sap the group’s strength and erode its aura of invincibility among those living under its despotic rule. Reports of rising tensions between foreign and local fighters, aggressive and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to recruit local citizens for the front lines, and a growing incidence of guerrilla attacks against Islamic State targets suggest the militants are struggling to sustain their carefully cultivated image as a fearsome fighting force drawing Muslims together under the umbrella of a utopian Islamic state. The anecdotal reports, drawn from activists and residents of areas under Islamic State control, don’t offer any indication […]
Subsidies may curb Islamic State oil financing
Liz Rosenburg, director of the energy and security program at the Center for a New American Security, says providing cheap oil products to regional allies could cut revenue stream for the Islamic State. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) — Western supporters fighting the group calling itself the Islamic State should consider subsidizing regional fuels to curb terror financing, a U.S. scholar said. The Islamic State is said to generate anywhere between several hundred thousand dollars to as much as $2 billion in illicit oil trade. Liz Rosenburg, director of the energy and security program at the Center for a New American Security, told delegates at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy that, while it was difficult to pinpoint exact financing, the group’s ability to generate funding through oil is diminished. "It is unlikely to be anywhere near the top of that spectrum now, given […]
Special Report: For Islamic State, wheat season sows seeds of discontent
ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – As the season for wheat planting in Iraq wound down early last month, farmers in areas under the control of Sunni militant group Islamic State grew worried. More than two dozen farmers told Reuters they had not planted the normal amount of seed, because they could not access their land, did not have the proper fertilizers or adequate fuel, or because they had no guarantees that Islamic State would buy their crop as Baghdad normally does. Farmers, and Iraqi and United Nations’ officials, now fear a drastically reduced crop this spring. That could leave hundreds of thousands of Iraqis hungry. But another big loser would be Islamic State, which controls territory that normally produces as much as 40 percent of Iraq’s wheat crop. The breakaway al Qaeda group, which declared an Islamic caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq last summer, has killed thousands and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Islamic State militants had hoped to use wheat to show it can […]