PROFIT OF TERROR: Products of ISIS run towns feeding barbarian coffers

Posted 2015-11-05 15:48 by Grunt Report

The Islamic State economy is more than just black market oil, plundered artifacts and stolen money: A steady stream of goods ranging from sesame paste to leather and fabrics is making its way out of the caliphate and onto store shelves around the world, say experts.

Before the rise of ISIS, the regions it now dominates in northern Iraq and Syria were noted for several specialty products. Olive oil, soap, textiles and a popular bread and cracker spread called tahini were among the region’s main exports. Fewer goods are trickling out now that ISIS is in charge, but there is ample evidence that manufacturing and export of goods for which the region has long been noted continues.

“Currently the international community is focusing on oil, drugs, archeological artifacts and ransom money,” said Daniel Koehler, director of the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies. “Islamic State will not be able to finance their costs with agricultural products or other locally produced goods.”

“ISIL will seek to profit from any natural or economic resources available in the territory it controls.”

– US Department of Treasury spokesperson

There can be little doubt that profits from oil and artifacts go to the terrorist group, but food and clothing items made in cities such as the Iraqi city of Mosul and ISIS’ Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, are likely a remnant of the old economy, and a likely means for workers stuck under the boot of ISIS to continue to scratch out a living, said experts. But the terrorist organization, through bribes and taxes, undoubtedly takes its cut of everything from olive oil to leather goods, even as it depends on bigger ticket items to finance its war machine.

“ISIL will seek to profit from any natural or economic resources available in the territory it controls,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office Terrorism and Financial Intelligence told FoxNews.com.

Dubai-based news organization Al-Arabiya recently reported that the tahini and other foodstuffs were moving from ISIS-held territories into the international market and showing up as far away as Canada. Experts who talked to FoxNews.com were not surprised.