U.S. officials: ISIS oil going to Assad, some to Turkey | World Defense

U.S. officials: ISIS oil going to Assad, some to Turkey

BLACKEAGLE

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U.S. officials: ISIS oil going to Assad, some to Turkey
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This photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015 shows oil refinement facilities hit during the attack of Russian warplanes in Syria. (AP)

Reuters, London Friday, 11 December 2015

ISIS has made more than $500 million trading oil with significant volumes sold to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and some finding its way to Turkey, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Thursday.

The United States, France, Britain and Russia have vowed to defeat ISIS, the group that controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.

A U.S.-led coalition is bombing the hardline group, as is Assad’s only big-power supporter Russia, in an attempt to kill its leaders and cripple the oil wells which the group uses to finance its rule and attacks abroad.

In one of the most detailed public explanations of ISIS’ oil trade, U.S. Treasury Department official Adam Szubin said militants were selling as much as $40 million a month of oil at the installations which was then spirited on trucks across the battlelines of the Syrian civil war and sometimes further.

“ISIL is selling a great deal of oil to the Assad regime,” Szubin, acting under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence with the Treasury, told an audience at Chatham House in London.

“The two are trying to slaughter each other and they are still engaged in millions and millions of dollars of trade,” Szubin said of Assad’s government and Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

The “far greater amount” of ISIS oil ends up under Assad’s control while some is consumed internally in ISIS-controlled areas. Some ends up in Kurdish regions and some in Turkey, he said.

“Some is coming across the border into Turkey,” Szubin said when asked for details on the money trail.

“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.

Szubin said it was unclear whether the $40 million a month estimate could be multiplied over a year. But in remarks prepared for delivery, he said ISIS had made more than $500 million from the oil trade, but did not give a more specific time period.

Last Update: Friday, 11 December 2015 KSA 08:34 - GMT 05:34
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/12/11/U-S-officials-ISIS-oil-going-to-Assad-some-to-Turkey.html
 

Corzhens

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There is a saying here that soldiers cannot fight on an empty stomach. In the same vein, it seems that ISIS is being financed by the oil in Syria. They are lucky to have conquered a territory with an oil mine that would help them sustain their financial needs. Wars need money and oil money can definitely be put into good use in terms of military needs. So if US or Russia really wants to defeat ISIS then they should hit the oil.
 

Redheart

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The U.S for some reason was unwilling to target ISIS's oil supply but Russia wasn't too hesitant. Though they claim that ISIS oil supply has been obliterated [being] true to their nature they are doing a bit of exaggeration. I'm sure though that even if ISIS no longer sold oil there'll be a number of wealthy donors eager to give them some money so they can keep fighting.
 

explorerx7

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This reminds me of the "The no peace beyond the line treaty," between the French Privateers and the French Privateers and English Buccaneers during the eighteen century. Where, even though they were enemies, they agreed not to attack each other in the Nothern Hemisphere. However, beyond the equator, it was open warfare.
In this instance, the enemies will trade oil with no hostility because without oil would be very difficult for either side to operate.
 

rz3300

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Well, like they say, follow the money. I am not sure about what is going on in this area, but I do know that these oil fields are so valuable that it seems foolish to think that these organizations are going anywhere soon. If they have control over some oil, they really have an upper hand in the region and they can manipulate foreign governments, which make them harder to deal with.
 

Redheart

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Well, like they say, follow the money. I am not sure about what is going on in this area, but I do know that these oil fields are so valuable that it seems foolish to think that these organizations are going anywhere soon. If they have control over some oil, they really have an upper hand in the region and they can manipulate foreign governments, which make them harder to deal with.
They can attempt to hold onto the oil fields but considering the terrorists won't be able to sell oil anymore the oil fields won't be of much value to them anymore. Assad's government made a mistake buying oil from ISIS because the money they got made them more powerful. They use the money to buy weapons, pay fighters [buy their loyalty] among other things. Stop them from selling oil and it will be easier to defeat them. Fighters will desert, the terrorist group would disintegrate.
 

silentwarfare

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Turkey has been cashing in on ISIS oil since the very beginning, and several other resources that they needed that ISIS could get them. America partially depends on some but not all of that, and other countries that have deals with America one way or another also depend on some or a lot of it based on which country they are and what deal they have with them. Russia is able to rely upon its own resources for the most part, and wasn't too worried about taking things into their own hands and doing it their way. It's not their style to worry about that, and with the resources they have at their disposal, it's never been anything to deter them once they've made a decision and were determined to do something like that. Another reason that America didn't want to do that, is because there may be hidden assets that would be lost in addition to the oil lines if they did...
 
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