{"id":24016,"date":"2015-10-15T19:16:30","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T23:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=24016"},"modified":"2015-10-16T19:44:18","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T23:44:18","slug":"24016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=24016","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Has Allowed ISIS Inc. To Operate On Stolen Oil Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOTN Editor’s Note:<\/strong>
\nThe U.S. strategy in Syria has always been about covertly supporting ISIS in every possible way. It’s primary financial support has been to passively permit ISIS to take the oil revenues from all the conquered territories that have operating oil wells and refineries. This arrangement has actually driven which locations ISIS has waged war upon. \u00a0Their CIA handlers and MOSSAD masters has helped ISIS plot their every move. \u00a0The bottom line of this quite purposeful war strategy has been: Follow the money, or rather the oil wells and refineries.<\/p>\n

\"Isis<\/a>

Isis fighters at a checkpoint near the Baiji oil refinery<\/p><\/div>\n

In this way the USA does not have to directly fund the maintenance of a terrorist army that is wiping out Christian communities throughout the Mideast. That would be a tad embarrassing for the Obama Administration. \u00a0However, now that Russia has entered the theatre of war, the US has resorted to the outright paradropping of weapons and ammunitions to ‘moderate rebels’ which everyone knows is the code name for ISIS.<\/p>\n

US Paradrops 50 Tons Of Ammo To Syrian Rebels<\/a><\/p>\n

The moral of the story is that the United States of America is now funding and arming the most dangerous and deadly terrorist organization in modern history. \u00a0 And, that the Obama Administrations seems to have no shame in doing so. \u00a0Hence, the USA now has a sitting president who has essentially committed treason while aiding and abetting terrorists.<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

\n

Isis Inc: how oil fuels the jihadi terrorists<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

Erika Solomon in Beirut, Guy Chazan and Sam Jones in London
\nFT.com<\/p>\n

\n

Jihadis\u2019 oil operation forces even their enemies to trade with them<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n

On\u00a0the outskirts of al-Omar oilfield in eastern Syria, with warplanes flying overhead, a line of trucks stretches for 6km. Some drivers wait for a month to fill up with crude.<\/p>\n

Falafel stalls and tea shops have sprung up to cater to the drivers, such is the demand for oil. Traders sometimes leave their trucks unguarded for weeks, waiting for their turn.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

This is the land of Isis<\/a>, the jihadi organisation in control of swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory. The trade in oil has been declared a prime target by the international military coalition fighting the group. And yet it goes on, undisturbed.<\/p>\n

Oil is the black gold that funds Isis\u2019 black flag \u2014 it fuels its war machine, provides electricity and gives the fanatical jihadis critical leverage against their neighbours.<\/p>\n

But more than a year after US President Barack Obama launched an international coalition to fight Isis, the bustling trade at al-Omar and at least eight other fields has come to symbolise the dilemma the campaign faces: how to bring down the \u201ccaliphate\u201d without destabilising the life of the estimated 10m civilians in areas under Isis control, and punishing the west\u2019s allies?<\/p>\n

The resilience of Isis, and the weakness of the US-led campaign, have given Russia<\/a> a pretext to launch its own, bold intervention in Syria.<\/p>\n

Despite all these efforts, dozens of interviews with Syrian traders and oil engineers as well as western intelligence officials and oil experts reveal a sprawling operation almost akin to a state oil company that has grown in size and expertise despite international attempts to destroy it.<\/p>\n

Minutely managed, Isis\u2019 oil company actively recruits skilled workers, from engineers to trainers and managers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n

Estimates by local traders and engineers put crude production in Isis-held territory at about 34,000-40,000 bpd. The oil is sold at the wellhead for between $20 and $45 a barrel, earning the militants an average of $1.5m a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a situation that makes you laugh and cry,\u201d said one Syrian rebel commander in Aleppo, who buys diesel from Isis areas even as his forces fight the group on the front lines. \u201cBut we have no other choice, and we are a poor man\u2019s revolution. Is anyone else offering to give us fuel?\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil as a strategic weapon<\/h2>\n

Isis\u2019 oil<\/a> strategy has been long in the making. Since the group emerged on the scene in Syria in 2013, long before they reached Mosul in Iraq, the jihadis saw oil as a crutch for their vision for an Islamic state. The group\u2019s shura council identified it as fundamental for the survival of the insurgency and, more importantly, to finance their ambition to create a caliphate.<\/p>\n

\n

Journey with a barrel of Isis oil<\/a><\/h3>\n
\"Isis<\/a><\/div>\n

Selling crude is Isis\u2019 biggest single source of revenue.<\/p>\n

Follow the progress of a barrel of oil from extraction to end user to see how the Isis production system works, who is making money from it, and why it is proving so challenging to disrupt<\/p>\n

View graphic<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Most of the oil Isis controls is in Syria\u2019s oil-rich east, where it created a foothold in 2013, shortly after withdrawing from the north-west \u2014 an area of strategic importance but with no oil. These bridgeheads were then used to consolidate control over the whole of eastern Syria after the fall of Mosul in 2014.<\/p>\n

When it pushed through northern Iraq and took over Mosul, Isis also seized the Ajil and Allas fields in north-eastern Iraq\u2019s Kirkuk province. The very day of its takeover, locals say, militants secured the fields and engineers were sent in to begin operations and ship the oil to market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were ready, they had people there in charge of the financial side, they had technicians that adjusted the filling and storage process,\u201d said a local sheikh from the town of Hawija, near Kirkuk. \u201cThey brought hundreds of trucks in from Kirkuk and Mosul and they started to extract the oil and export it.\u201d An average of 150 trucks, he added, were filled daily, with each containing about $10,000-worth of oil. Isis lost the fields to the Iraqi army in April but made an estimated $450m from them in the 10 months it controlled the area.<\/p>\n

While al-Qaeda, the global terrorist network, depended on donations from wealthy foreign sponsors, Isis has derived its financial strength from its status as monopoly producer of an essential commodity consumed in vast quantities throughout the area it controls. Even without being able to export, it can thrive because it has a huge captive market in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n

Indeed, diesel and petrol produced in Isis areas are not only consumed in territory the group controls but in areas that are technically at war with it, such as Syria<\/a>\u2019s rebel-held north: the region is dependent on the jihadis\u2019 fuel for its survival. Hospitals, shops, tractors and machinery used to pull victims out of rubble run on generators that are powered by Isis oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt any moment, the diesel can be cut. No diesel \u2014 Isis knows our life is completely dead,\u201d says one oil trader who comes from rebel-held Aleppo each week to buy fuel and spoke to the Financial Times by telephone.<\/p>\n

A national oil company<\/h2>\n

Isis\u2019 strategy has rested on projecting the image of a state in the making, and it is attempting to run its oil industry by mimicking the ways of national oil corporations. According to Syrians who say Isis tried to recruit them, the group headhunts engineers, offering competitive salaries to those with the requisite experience, and encourages prospective employees to apply to its human resources department.<\/p>\n

A roving committee of its specialists checks up on fields, monitors production and interviews workers about operations. It also appoints Isis members who have worked at oil companies in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East as \u201cemirs\u201d, or princes, to run its most important facilities, say traders who buy Isis oil and engineers who have worked at Isis-controlled fields.<\/p>\n

Some technicians have been actively courted by Isis recruiters. Rami \u2014 not his real name \u2014 used to work in oil in Syria\u2019s Deir Ezzor province before becoming a rebel commander. He was later contacted by an Isis military emir inIraq<\/a> via WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cI could choose whatever position I wanted, he promised me,\u201d he said. \u201cHe said: \u2018You can name your salary\u2019.\u201d Sceptical of the Isis project, Rami ultimately turned down the offer and fled to Turkey.<\/p>\n

Isis also recruits from among its supporters abroad. In the speech he gave after the fall of Mosul, Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called not only for fighters but engineers, doctors and other skilled labour. The group recently appointed an Egyptian engineer who used to live in Sweden as the new manager of its Qayyara refinery in northern Iraq, according to an Iraqi petroleum engineer from Mosul, who declined to be named.<\/p>\n

The central role of oil is also reflected in the status it is given in Isis\u2019 power structures.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s approach to government across the territories it controls is highly decentralised. For the most part, it relies on regional walis<\/em> \u2014 governors \u2014 to administer territories according to the precepts laid down by the central shura.<\/p>\n

However, oil \u2014 alongside Isis\u2019 military and security operations and its sophisticated media output \u2014 is centrally controlled by the top leadership. \u201cThey are organised in their approach to oil,\u201d said a senior western intelligence official. \u201cThat\u2019s a key centrally controlled and documented area. It\u2019s a central shura matter,\u201d he added, referring to Isis\u2019 ruling \u201ccabinet\u201d.<\/p>\n

Until recently, Isis\u2019 emir for oil was Abu Sayyaf, a Tunisian whose real name, according to the Pentagon, was Fathi Ben Awn Ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi, and who was killed by US special forces in a raid in May this year. According to US and European intelligence officials, a treasure trove of documentation relating to Isis\u2019 oil operations was found with him. The documents laid bare a meticulously run operation, with revenues from wells and costs carefully accounted for. They showed a pragmatic approach to pricing too, with Isis carefully exploiting differences in demand across its territories to maximise profitability.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n

Oversight of the oil wells is carefully controlled by the Amniyat<\/em>, Isis\u2019 secret police, who ensure revenues go where they should \u2014 and mete out brutal punishments when they do not. Guards patrol the perimeter of pumping stations, while far-flung individual wells are surrounded by protective sand berms and each trader is carefully checked as he drives in to fill up.<\/p>\n

At the al-Jibssa field in Hassakeh province, north-eastern Syria, which produces 2,500-3,000 bpd, \u201cabout 30-40 big trucks a day, each with 75 barrels of capacity, would fill up\u201d, according to one Hassakeh oil trader.<\/p>\n

Isis\u2019 distribution network<\/h2>\n

But the biggest draw is al-Omar. According to one trader who regularly buys oil there, the system, with its 6km queue, is slow but market players have adapted to it. Drivers present a document with their licence plate number and tanker capacity to Isis officials, who enter them into a database and assign them a number.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n

Most then return to their villages, shuttling back to the site every two or three days to check up on their vehicles. Traders say that towards the end of the month, some people come back and set up tents to stay close to their trucks while they wait their turn.<\/p>\n

Once in possession of al-Omar\u2019s oil, the traders either take it to local refineries or sell it on at a mark-up to middlemen with smaller vehicles who transport it to cities further west such as Aleppo and Idlib.<\/p>\n

Isis\u2019 luck with oil may not last. Coalition bombs, the Russian intervention and low oil prices could put pressure on revenues. The biggest threat to Isis\u2019 production so far, however, has been the depletion of Syria\u2019s ageing oilfields. It does not have the technology of major foreign companies to counteract what locals describe as a slow drop in production. Isis\u2019 need for fuel for its military operations means there is also less oil to sell in the market.<\/p>\n

For now, though, in Isis-controlled territory, the jihadis control the supply and there is no shortage of demand. \u201cEveryone here needs diesel: for water, for farming, for hospitals, for offices. If diesel is cut off, there is no life here,\u201d says a businessman who works near Aleppo. \u201cIsis knows this [oil] is a winning card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Ahmad Mhidi, an independent journalist based on the Turkish border<\/em> and Geoff Dyer in Washington<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ft.com\/cms\/s\/2\/b8234932-719b-11e5-ad6d-f4ed76f0900a.html#axzz3ogIAdGVn<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SOTN Editor’s Note: The U.S. strategy in Syria has always been about covertly supporting ISIS in every possible way. It’s primary financial support has been to passively permit ISIS to take the oil revenues from all the conquered territories that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}