Washington Post: US-led strikes putting financial squeeze on Daesh

The Islamic State (Daesh) is facing an unprecedented cash crunch in its home territory, as months of strikes on oil facilities and ­financial institutions take a deepening toll on the group’s ability to pay its fighters or carry out operations, The Washington Post quoted U.S. counter-­terrorism officials as saying.

For the first time, U.S. officials are seeing clear evidence of the financial strain on the group’s leadership, as reports surface of clashes among senior commanders over allegations of corruption, mismanagement and theft.

Cash shortages already have forced the group to put many of its Iraqi and Syrian recruits on half-pay, and accounts from recent defectors suggest that some units haven’t received salaries in months. 

Civilians and businesses in the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed homeland complain of being subjected to ever-higher taxes and fees to make up the shortfall.

U.S. officials attribute the economic upheaval to a months-long campaign to destroy the group’s financial underpinnings, including weeks of punishing strikes on oil facilities as well as on banks and other repositories of hard currency.

The strikes against oil fields, refineries and tankers have cut oil production by about a third, according to several counter-terrorism officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence from the region. 

Meanwhile, overall revenue from the Islamic State’s oil business has plummeted by as much as 50 percent because of falling oil prices and a diminished capability to make and sell refined products such as gasoline, the officials said.

“For the first time, there’s an optimistic tone,” Daniel Glaser, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department, said of the financial war against the Islamic State. “I really do think we’re having a significant impact.”

Source: MENA