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US-led air campaign spared Islamic States’ most lucrative source of income for 14 months
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that the Islamic State terrorists are being financed from 40 countries, including a number of G20 countries. Putin has reportedly shared “intelligence” with other G20 members, but he has not publicly revealed the list of the nations that sponsor terrorism.
Additionally, the terrorists have raked in about $50 million per month from “the illegal trade in oil and petroleum products.”
“I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL, locally daesh) units by private individuals. This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them,” Putin told reporters.
In addition to the need to cut off the flow of funds to ISIS, Putin has also stressed the need to stop the lucrative oil trade by IS.
“I’ve shown our colleagues photos taken from space and from aircraft which clearly demonstrate the scale of the illegal trade in oil and petroleum products,” he said.
“The motorcade of refueling vehicles stretched for dozens of kilometers, so that from a height of 4,000 to 5,000 meters they stretch beyond the horizon.”
The Islamic State earns about $50 million a month in illegal crude oil sales from occupied oilfields in Iraq and Syria (an estimated 30,000 barrels per day in Syria and 20,000 in Iraq), “part of a well-run industry that U.S. diplomacy and airstrikes have so far failed to shut down, according to Iraqi intelligence and U.S. officials,” said a report.
“Oil sales—the extremists’ largest single source of continual income—are a key reason they have been able to maintain their rule over their self-declared ‘caliphate’ stretching across large parts of Syria and Iraq. With the funds to rebuild infrastructure and provide the largesse that shore up its fighters’ loyalty, it has been able to withstand ground fighting against its opponents and more than a year of bombardment in the U.S.-led air campaign.”
Why have the U.S. military & Co. spared the Islamic States’ most important source of income?
Wondering when the taxpayers would start asking the same question, the US warplanes reportedly targeted the oil trucks on Monday (Nov. 16, 2015), for the first time since the Syria air campaign began about 14 months ago.
“United States warplanes for the first time attacked hundreds of trucks on Monday that the extremist group has been using to smuggle the crude oil it has been producing in Syria, American officials said,” according to a report.
“According to an initial assessment, 116 trucks were destroyed in the attack, which took place near Deir al-Zour, an area in eastern Syria that is controlled by the Islamic State.”
[The above report has not been verified independently, as of receiving this submission. Editor]
G20 Members
United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Indonesia, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, and European Union.
Syria Airstrikes Contributing Countries
United States of America (Leader), United Kingdom (currently limited, but could change anytime) United Arab Emirates (see Saudi Arabia), Turkey (Turkish involvement has so far been limited to bombing the Kurdish fighters, who are currently the only effective force against the Islamic State), Saudi Arabia (members of the Saudi Royal Family are the World’s biggest sponsors of terrorism), Qatar (see Saudi Arabia), Jordan (always desperate to appease its sponsors), France, Canada, Bahrain (see Saudi Arabia), and Australia.
Countries whose Arms Industries Benefit most from Terrorism (Paris Attacks)
United States, Russia, China, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Israel, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and Canada.
The JOKE?
The joke is on you, homo sapiens!
Fire Earth 