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U.S. Strikes Cut into ISIS Oil Revenues

(New York Times) Julie Hirschfeld Davis - The American military campaign against the Islamic State has begun to cut into the Sunni militant group's substantial oil revenues, the top counterterrorism official at the Treasury Department, David S. Cohen, said on Thursday, but starving its cash flow will be a slow process. Cohen said the group was "the best-funded terrorist organization we've confronted." The group takes in tens of millions of dollars each month, including about $1 million a day through black-market sales of oil extracted from territory it controls. The group also runs extortion and protection schemes. Treasury is focusing on choking off the oil revenue and leaning on countries in the region to shut down cross-border smuggling routes. "The middlemen, traders, refiners, transport companies and anyone else that handles ISIL's oil should know that we are hard at work identifying them, and that we have tools at hand to stop them," Cohen said. Cohen is also pushing to enlist other countries to join the U.S. in adopting a no-ransoms policy for kidnapped hostages. Kidnappings for ransom have netted the Islamic State at least $20 million this year alone, he said.
2014-10-24 00:00:00
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