The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has crude, stomach-turning tactics when it comes to dealing with its enemy, but experts say that its moneymaking methods are highly sophisticated, especially for such a new terror group.
Here’s a look at how ISIS has made (and taken) millions:
Oil production and smuggling
ISIS makes between $1 million and $2 million each day from oil sales, numerous sources tell CNN. The oil comes mostly from refineries and wells that ISIS controls in northern Iraq and northern Syria.
The militants smuggle oil into southern Turkey, for example, and sell it to people who desperately need it just to carry on some semblance of everyday life.
The United States-led coalition fighting ISIS has repeatedly targeted ISIS oil assets in an effort to, in part, damage this arm of the group’s financial system.
ISIS is estimated to produce about 44,000 barrels a day in Syria and 4,000 barrels a day in Iraq, according to Foreign Policy. A Kurdish newspaper has published the names of people involved with ISIS and its oil enterprise, the magazine reported.
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Control of crops
Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force in Washington, told CNN that Raqqa, ISIS’ de facto Syrian capital, is a kind of breadbasket. “They’ve got the cotton and the wheat.” he said. The United States has targeted grain silos that ISIS controls.
A separate economy?
Last year, ISIS announced that its “Treasury Department” would start minting its own gold, silver and copper coins for its “Official Islamic State Financial System.” It’s not clear if this has any value. The move is “purely dedicated to God,” ISIS declared, and will remove Muslims from the “global economic system that is based on satanic usury.”
Everything to know about ISIS
Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin contributed to this report.
