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Friday, December 11, 2015

Islamic State Finance Chief Killed In Airstrike

Abu Saleh, whose real name was Muwaffaq Mustafa Muhammad al-Karmush, was killed in late November, US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.
He was described as "one of the most senior and experienced members" of the group's funding network.
IS secures most of its funding from activities in the caliphate it has declared in northern Iraq and Syria, including black market oil sales, extortion and looting financial institutions.
It has made more than $500m trading oil, with large amounts sold to the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, a senior US Treasury official said.
The Rise Of Islamic State
"ISIL is selling a great deal of oil to the Assad regime," Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence with the US Treasury, said.
"The two are trying to slaughter each other and they are still engaged in millions and millions of dollars of trade."
As much as $40m a month of oil is being sold at installations in IS-held areas, he said.
As well ending up in the hands of the Syrian government the militants are fighting, the oil is also sent to Turkey and Kurdish controlled areas.
"Our sense is that ISIL is taking its profits basically at the wellhead and so while you do have ISIL oil ending up in a variety of different places that's not really the pressure we want when it comes to stemming the flow of funding - it really comes down to taking down their infrastructure," he said.
The US and its allies have targeted oilfields with airstrikes in recent weeks in an effort to disrupt the funding network.
Syria
The killing of Saleh and two others in November appears to be part of the same strategy.
"Killing him and his predecessors exhausts the knowledge and talent needed to co-ordinate funding within the organisation," Colonel Warren said.
The two other men targeted were identified as Abu Mariam, an enforcer and senior leader in IS group extortion networks, and Abu Waqman al-Tunis, who Col Warren said co-ordinated IS's transfer of people, weapons and information.
Meanwhile, the US said it was deploying a special operations unit in Iraq that will be able to mount raids into Syria to capture or kill IS leaders.
"We want this expeditionary targeting force to make ISIL and its leaders wonder when they go to bed at night: who's going to be coming in the window," US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told a Senate hearing.

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