Daesh income 'falls 30% as it loses territory'

Daesh’s revenue has been cut by almost 30 percent in the past year as it has lost control of territory and people to tax a new report estimates.

Militant leaders have introduced new fines and taxes to halt the slide in funding and have begun accepting money from criminals in lieu of meting out brutal corporal punishments, The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday.

Income for the extremist movement once called the richest terrorist group in the world fell from around £56m ($80) each month in March 2015 to £40m ($54) last month.

The finances of Daesh have been badly hit by battlefield reverses in which it lost nearly a quarter of the territory it seized to set up a self-styled Caliphate in Eastern Syrian and northern Iraq.

The number of people living in Isil held territory has fallen from around nine million at the start of 2015 to fewer than six million, denying the militants millions in tax income.

The estimate from consultancy IHS appears to back claims from the international coalition fighting Isil that a barrage of air strikes has badly weakened the militants. Col Steve Warren, spokesman, said at the weekend that strikes had killed up to 25,000 fighters.

Around half the group’s revenues come from taxation and confiscation, and 43 per cent from selling and smuggling oil from captured wells, the reports estimates. Both sources have been hit.

Source : MENA