U.S. Drops Bombs Not Just on ISIS, but on Its Cash, Too
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Version 0 of 1. WASHINGTON — With sanctions, blacklists and other measures doing little to financially break the Islamic State, the United States has turned to a far simpler tactic to empty the group’s coffers: It is literally blowing them up. American warplanes have struck nine depots where the group is believed to have stashed tens of millions of dollars in cash, said Col. Steven H. Warren, a spokesman for the American-led coalition. The strikes began in the summer and the latest came Monday in Mosul, Iraq, he said, showing a video in which plumes of cash could be seen fluttering about in the moments after a building was demolished by a bomb. Colonel Warren, who spoke via video teleconference from Baghdad, could not say how much money had been destroyed in Mosul — “tens of millions of dollars” was the estimate offered — or whether the bills were Iraqi dinars, American dollars or some other currency. But he did offer up a catch phrase for the tactic: “Strike the Daesh cash, as we call it around here.” Daesh, the Arabic name by which many in the Middle East derisively refer to the Islamic State, may not actually rhyme with cash (its pronunciation is closer to “da-ish” than “dash”). But the military appears confident that bombing cash depots is helping to sap the financial strength of the Islamic State, which American officials and experts believe may be bringing in around $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year. “Striking these cash collection points hurts this enemy,” Colonel Warren said. “They operate on cash, right? There is no credit in” the Islamic State. That may not be strictly true. Western officials and experts who track Islamic State finances say there are examples of the militants using oil or other goods to procure needed supplies, including ammunition and other military equipment. And how much cash the Islamic State is actually storing in depots, rather than laundering through regional banks and money transfer businesses, is an open question. In fact, Treasury Department officials charged with undermining Islamic State finances were saying as recently as November — months after the military began striking cash depots — that the United States and its allies were having trouble cutting the flow of money to the group. That is in large part because of how the group obtains money, wringing it from the people and territory it controls, which limits the impact of sanctions and financial blacklists. The Islamic State has looted roughly $1 billion from bank vaults across Syria and Iraq, and it exacts taxes, tolls and traffic fines from those who live under its control. It makes millions of dollars a month smuggling oil. It traffics in looted antiquities and ransoms for kidnapped foreigners, and drums up donations from wealthy supporters in the Persian Gulf. Still, there are indications that the Islamic State’s finances have been under pressure in recent months with some reports indicating that the group had to cut pay to some fighters. If that is the case, experts say it is probably because of military setbacks, such as the loss of Ramadi, Iraq, which deprived the Islamic State of a bustling commercial center whose inhabitants and businesses the militants could extort, tax and fine. The falling price of oil, which the militants typically sell for about half the going rate, has also had an impact, said a European official who tracks militant finances and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence. Airstrikes against oil tankers and wells controlled by the Islamic State have also cut into the group’s earnings, though it is hard to quantify how deeply at this point, the official said. The military, for its part, insists its attacks on the Islamic State’s oil smuggling operations and cash depots is making a difference. “A combination of taking away their ability to earn money by striking oil and taking away the money that they have on hand by striking the Daesh cash really puts the squeeze on them,” Colonel Warren said. |