Author: Vladimir Odintsov
ISIS’ Financial Sources
Information published recently by The Independent has revealed that the ISIS terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria receive substantial funds through a “sophisticated money laundering scheme”. These funds are partly generated by shady transactions carried out in the south of the UK with banking services provided on the phone and the import of cars from England to Africa.
On October 16 this year, The Financial Times told the world about their investigations into ISIS’ financial sources, noting that after more than one year and 10.5 thousand airstrikes since the beginning of the West’s anti-terrorist campaign, the result has been the complete failure of US efforts to undermine the financial income of the terrorist group.
There are many different testimonies regarding the sources of ISIS financing. According to experts, despite the fact that ISIS positions itself as a political and religious organization, in fact, it functions as a criminal organization, and its main sources of income comprise tribute, smuggling, illegal oil sales and other types of crime. It is also mentioned that in Iraq and Syria the organization resorts to bank robberies, kidnapping and extortion after taking hostages as sources of income.
In particular, in June 2014 ISIS gunmen robbed a branch of the Central Bank of Iraq in Mosul, pocketing, according to various estimates, the sum ranging from $900 million to $2 billion dollars. Last week in Mosul, ISIS gunmen captured a branch of the Al-Rafidin bank, and according to witnesses, they drove away with three trucks full of money (the exact amount stolen is unknown, but according to some estimates, ISIS robbed several dozens of USD millions from the bank). In addition, ISIS receives funds from private investors in the Gulf countries, in particular Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, supporting the fight against Bashar Assad’s regime. This is done through Islamic charities, mostly in Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Thus, a member of Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) Mohammad Saleh Jokar asserts that ISIS has received financial assistance, including from Saudi Arabia, in the amount of USD 4 billion to conduct terrorist activities in Iraq. Now, according to the estimates of some experts, the organization’s budget could reach USD 7 billion, which until recently allowed the terrorist organizations to actively recruit mercenaries to its ranks and to finance various propaganda campaigns.
