NEWS / TOP NEWS

ISIS makes between $1 million and $2 million per day and the resources of the militant
group exceed those of "any other terrorist group in history," according to an intelligence
officer of the United States who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified
assessments. According to a report from CNN on Oct. 7, the Islamist extremist group ISIS is
reaping in a tremendous amount of money while waging an all-out battle in its effort to seize
and control new territories.
Militants of ISIS, which in the past relied on wealthy Persian Gulf donors to get money, have
become a self-supplied financial giant, earning more than $1 million a day from oil
smuggling, human trafficking, theft and extortion. ISIS has taken extensive tracts of Syria
and Iraq and controls up to 11 oil fields and these riches are one of the reasons why
American authorities are so concerned by the group, although they admit they have no
evidence that it is preparing attacks against the United States.
The organization sells oil and other goods through smuggling networks used for
generations under the noses of some of the same governments that they fight. Although
Washington's intelligence agencies do not believe that these governments are complicit in
smuggling, the Obama administration is pushing to do more to end this.
The oil comes from wells and refineries that ISIS has taken control of in northern Iraq and
northern Syria and until recently it was very easy to take contraband to areas such as
See also: top news, isis
ISIS earns $1 million per day making
them the richest terrorist group in
history
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October 7, 2014
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southern Turkey. One reason is that the smuggled oil is cheap and is a precious commodity
in most areas. Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and
Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington, D.C., calls ISIS
"the best-financed group we've ever seen."
Regarding ISIS's $1 million per day earnings, Levitt said: "We shouldn't be surprised.
Remember, the Islamic State called ISIS is what used to be called the Islamic State of Iraq,
and al Qaeda in Iraq, the Tawhid Network, the Zarqawi Network; it's all the same. And they
were always primarily financed through domestic criminal activity within the borders of Iraq."
In addition, the group has secretly made millions of dollars by taking Iraq antiques and
putting them up for sale in Turkey, said Moaz al-Khatib, a former president of the National
Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. ISIS also makes money through
trafficking and selling women and children as sex slaves.
Comment
Christian Savoy
Jacksonville Top News Examiner
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