Territory controlled by the ISIL as of June 2014 in Syria and Iraq.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/06072014-isil-financing-war-machine-terror-2-0-oped/
When ISIL – the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – announced its independence from Al Qaeda inFebruary 2014, most analysts understood such a divorce within the Islamic radical family as a clear sign of the group disintegration along contradictory terror narratives.
More fundamental in its view than its sister group in Syria, Al Nusra, ISIL has advocated a harsher stance against those it labelled the “enemies of Islam”, seeking not to negotiate but to annihilate.
A breakaway, a splinter group of Al Qaeda, no analyst could have predicted that ISIL would, within months of its establishment, sweep across northern Iraq with the speed and military accuracy it demonstrated over the past few weeks. Strong of thousands of hardened jihadists ISIL has proven so far to be an unstoppable force, much more powerful and potent than Al Qaeda itself since it managed to establish its own caliphate, succeeding where Al Qaeda had failed.
But what makes ISIL so different than al Qaeda, safe from its unforgiving radical narrative? Enamoured with grand punitive displays – the group has often staged gruesome public executions to strike fear at the heart of is subjects and erode the moral of its enemies – ISIL has been often dubbed the evil child of Al Qaeda, the epitome of what Islamic radicalism is – intransigent hatred and bigotry.
Why has ISIL succeeded where Al Qaeda could not? One thing – ISIL has money.
Not just a brutal machine of war
While ISIL fighters might have proven ruthless warriors, quite capable of successfully engaging Iraq armed forces in frontal attacks, the group’s leadership has shown incredible management skills when it comes to handling the group’s finances, something Al Qaeda never quite mastered.
Dubbed the richest terror group in the Middle East since ISIL has de facto established control over Mosul vast oil resources and gained access to Mosul central bank vast reserve of cash – just below half a billion dollars Iraqi officials have confirmed – it is likely this breakaway will continue to feed its war machine by asserting its territorial gains with petro-dollars.
A cunning stratege, ISIL has clearly learned from Al Qaeda’s past failures and experienced. A sound mind on sound shoulders, ISIL could soon prove to be the perfect terror storm, a force which might prove too great for any one country to fight alone.
ISIL financial empire
In a report published on Bloomberg on June 26, Glenn Carey made the following remark, “The extremist militants battling government forces in Iraq know it takes more than guns and ammunition to carve out their Islamic state,” referring to ISIL’ strategy of war. And indeed, no longer just a terror group, ISIL has transitioned into a veritable institution.
This simple realisation should have countries in the region cast away whatever enmity they might harbour for each other for the sake of survival, as a tidal wave of terror is threatening to swallow their world.
Commenting on ISIL’ financial apparatus Paul Sullivan – a Middle East specialist at Georgetown University in Washington – noted, “ISIL is not out in the economic boondocks of Afghanistan or hidden in deserts and caves … ISIL is developing in a vital oil, gas and trade area of the world. It can grab as it expands.”
By holding key territories in northern Iraq, ISIL is not only looking to strengthen its hold over its new caliphate – Abu Bakr Al Baghdad proclaimed on June 29 in an audio statement the establishment of Iraq Islamic State – it is setting up a system which will enable other radical groups, such as Al Qaeda to dodge global efforts to halt their flow of money.
In short ISIL’s financing strategy could lead to a complete game-change.
As explained by Fabrice Balanche, a lecturer and director of a Middle East group at the University of Lyon 2 in France, “ISIL has its own funding linked to levies it imposes in the territories it controls … We know that for more than a year, merchants in Mosul have been paying a ‘revolutionary tax.’ It also sells black market oil and gets ransoms from kidnappings. But that’s not enough to maintain its men and buy arms.”
With ISIL’s growing independence, comes a shrinking ability to control the organization from the outside. This new development actually prompted Saudi Arabia to adopt a stronger stance against the terror group, even though it was keen a few months ago to use its men against President Bashar Al Assad in Syria.
In a rather ironic turn of event, the very warnings which President Al Assad issued against Saudi Arabia and its foreign allies in relation to their enabling of terror, that Islamic radicals would soon escape all control, has materialized.
In addition to its funding and military success, it appears thousands of recruits from around the globe have given ISIL the man power it needed to take down forces several times its size. It has boosted its power so much so, that now an abundance of weaponry and armoured vehicles produced by the U.S. and given to Iraq, have now been captured by the Islamic group.
The oil rush
Oil seems to be the word of the day in Iraq. As noted by Piotr Zalewski – a journalist with Businessweek – “It [oil] powers not only the pickup trucks the ISIL fighters drive into battle but also the helicopters, Humvees, and tanks they captured after their dramatic June 9 conquest of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. It buys them more weapons. Distributed free of charge or sold at a discount to locals, it also buys sympathy, loyalty, and new recruits. It pays the monthly salaries—reportedly as much as $500—of many ISIL fighters.”
Aaron Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy explained that, “Gaining access to oil for themselves and denying it to their enemies has been part of the ISIL strategy.”
And indeed, ISIL has been systematic in its targeting of Iraq’s oil resources. Back in March, ISIL militants, aided by other groups in the region forced a key pipeline delivering oil to Turkey to become inoperative. A week before ISIL set its eyes on Baiji, it attempted to seize Kirkuk – Iraq’s fourth-largest oil field – While militants were defeated by Kurdish troops, it is not to say that the group will not return to the offensive and claim complete monopoly over Iraq’s northern oil resources.
The new oil producer on the block, how long will it take for others, like al-Qaeda to replicate ISIL successes and carve further zones of control at the heart of Arabia, annexing yet more territories to the new Islamic caliphate?
Catherine is a political risk analyst for the Middle East with over 7 years’ experience.
A political commentator and columnist her work has appeared in many world renown publications -- Foreign Policy Association, Press TV, Tehran Times, Majalla, International Policy Digest, the US Independent, RT and many more.
She is the Associate Director of Beirut Center for Middle Eastern Studies and sits on the Russian International Affairs Council as a contributing policy adviser and co-founded Access-Media (www.accessmedia.webs.com)
She formerly acted as Yemen Minister of Human Rights senior media adviser.
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