Da’esh/Oil Smuggling – Efforts are under way to stop the flow of oil produced in areas controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, to cut off its main source of revenue. Turkish authorities are cracking down on smuggling on its border with Syria, and in Iraq's Kurdish region routes used by ISIL are being cut off it was reported on the 16 Dec 15. US estimates have put ISIL's sales of oil produced in Iraq and Syria at about $40m a month. However, it is believed there has been a 30 percent reduction in Dec 15 in production from oil fields controlled by ISIL, mainly due to air strikes by the US-led coalition on oil-producing facilities and also from air strikes by Russians on tankers used to move the oil. The fall in oil prices globally has also made it less profitable to smuggle oil.
ISIL controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, including oil fields in both countries. Turkey has stepped up surveillance of its 900km-border with Syria. In some places there are small pipes buried between Turkey and Syria to pump oil. Turkish border control is spending a lot of time looking for those. On the river border with Syria, sometimes oil is put on little boats coming across that border - that's been cracked down on as well. Oil is also carried in jerry cans over the border through remote terrain.
It is difficult to completely stop, but the smuggling business is certainly facing a crackdown. In northern Iraq, ISIL has been able to sneak in its trucks among legitimate oil tankers, transporting oil to Kirkuk. Lieutenant-Colonel Bola Ahmed Majid, a security official in Daquq in Kirkuk governorate, said side roads have been cut off to stop the smuggling. "We cut all those roads off by digging a ditch around the whole area. ISIL is now forced to send their oil to Mosul," he said. The provincial government has also formed a committee to investigate how ISIL used mediators and businessmen in Iraq's Kurdish region to sell its oil internationally. "About a year ago, we learned that huge quantities of crude oil were being smuggled overseas from the ISIL-held areas through the province," Ali Hameh Saleh, a member of the Kurdish regional parliament, said. "The government formed an investigation committee and 15 people were arrested," he said. "Later we found out that influential figures were involved, but the investigation ended and the government didn't release the outcomes to the public."
Da’esh/United Nations – Finance ministers from the 15 nations on the UN Security Council met to adopt a resolution aimed at disrupting the outside revenue that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group gets from selling oil and antiquities it was reported on the 17 Dec 15. ISIL, which gets money from ransom payments and other criminal activities, is already subject to UN sanctions under resolutions dealing with al-Qaeda. The Security Council's meeting on the 17 Dec came after the United States, Turkey and Iraq announced they were actively targeting the armed group's revenue sources. The proposed resolution, sponsored by the US and Russia, elevates ISIL to the same level as al-Qaeda, reflecting the growing threat it poses especially in the Middle East and North Africa.
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who will chaired the meeting, which was the first ever such UN Security Council gathering of finance ministers, said that cutting ISIL off from the international financial system is "critical to effectively combating this violent terrorist group". Speaking at Chatham House in London during the last reporting period senior US treasury official Adam Szubin said the US was already working with the Iraqi government to prevent ISIL from having access to its funds. "ISIL has made more than $500m from black market oil sales. It has looted between $500m and $1bn from bank vaults captured in Iraq and Syria," Szubin said. Turkish and Iraqi authorities have also announced that they are attempting to stop the flow of oil produced in areas controlled by ISIL.
Turkey had stepped up surveillance of its 900km border with Syria, while Iraqi Lieutenant Colonel Bola Ahmed Majid, a security official in Daquq in Iraq's Kirkuk governorate, said side roads had been cut off to stop oil smuggling. "We cut all those roads off by digging a ditch around the whole area. ISIL is now forced to send their oil to Mosul," he said. The draft Security Council resolution would rename the committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaeda as "the ISIL and al-Qaeda sanctions committee". It calls ISIL a splinter group of al-Qaeda and stresses that "any individual, group, undertaking, or entity supporting ISIL or al-Qaeda" is subject to UN sanctions, including an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. The draft encourages the 193 UN member states "to more actively submit" names for inclusion on the sanctions list and expresses "increasing concern" at the failure of countries to implement previous sanctions resolutions.
Da’esh – A report in a British newspaper on the 17 Dec 15 said that the jihadis are hoping to take down the Internet and cause a global meltdown of services after developing a sophisticated mobile phone application which allows any of their followers to launch devastating cyber attacks. A computer security expert, who invented the McAfee anti-virus software, claimed "fifteen to 25 percent" of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims are extremists, meaning ISIS could have an army of 400 million fanatical followers ready to strike at any minute. Computer boffins at the terrorists' headquarters in Raqqa have developed a secret smartphone application designed to spread Islamist propaganda and help followers carry out terrorist attacks from the comfort of their own homes.
A team which may have included British hacker Junaid Hussain invented a feature which allows even the most computer illiterate of jihadis to launch sophisticated Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against websites. DDoS attacks work by flooding a site with fake traffic, causing it to grind to a halt, and have been successfully used against some of the world's biggest companies and government departm
ISIL controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, including oil fields in both countries. Turkey has stepped up surveillance of its 900km-border with Syria. In some places there are small pipes buried between Turkey and Syria to pump oil. Turkish border control is spending a lot of time looking for those. On the river border with Syria, sometimes oil is put on little boats coming across that border - that's been cracked down on as well. Oil is also carried in jerry cans over the border through remote terrain.
It is difficult to completely stop, but the smuggling business is certainly facing a crackdown. In northern Iraq, ISIL has been able to sneak in its trucks among legitimate oil tankers, transporting oil to Kirkuk. Lieutenant-Colonel Bola Ahmed Majid, a security official in Daquq in Kirkuk governorate, said side roads have been cut off to stop the smuggling. "We cut all those roads off by digging a ditch around the whole area. ISIL is now forced to send their oil to Mosul," he said. The provincial government has also formed a committee to investigate how ISIL used mediators and businessmen in Iraq's Kurdish region to sell its oil internationally. "About a year ago, we learned that huge quantities of crude oil were being smuggled overseas from the ISIL-held areas through the province," Ali Hameh Saleh, a member of the Kurdish regional parliament, said. "The government formed an investigation committee and 15 people were arrested," he said. "Later we found out that influential figures were involved, but the investigation ended and the government didn't release the outcomes to the public."
Da’esh/United Nations – Finance ministers from the 15 nations on the UN Security Council met to adopt a resolution aimed at disrupting the outside revenue that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group gets from selling oil and antiquities it was reported on the 17 Dec 15. ISIL, which gets money from ransom payments and other criminal activities, is already subject to UN sanctions under resolutions dealing with al-Qaeda. The Security Council's meeting on the 17 Dec came after the United States, Turkey and Iraq announced they were actively targeting the armed group's revenue sources. The proposed resolution, sponsored by the US and Russia, elevates ISIL to the same level as al-Qaeda, reflecting the growing threat it poses especially in the Middle East and North Africa.
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who will chaired the meeting, which was the first ever such UN Security Council gathering of finance ministers, said that cutting ISIL off from the international financial system is "critical to effectively combating this violent terrorist group". Speaking at Chatham House in London during the last reporting period senior US treasury official Adam Szubin said the US was already working with the Iraqi government to prevent ISIL from having access to its funds. "ISIL has made more than $500m from black market oil sales. It has looted between $500m and $1bn from bank vaults captured in Iraq and Syria," Szubin said. Turkish and Iraqi authorities have also announced that they are attempting to stop the flow of oil produced in areas controlled by ISIL.
Turkey had stepped up surveillance of its 900km border with Syria, while Iraqi Lieutenant Colonel Bola Ahmed Majid, a security official in Daquq in Iraq's Kirkuk governorate, said side roads had been cut off to stop oil smuggling. "We cut all those roads off by digging a ditch around the whole area. ISIL is now forced to send their oil to Mosul," he said. The draft Security Council resolution would rename the committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaeda as "the ISIL and al-Qaeda sanctions committee". It calls ISIL a splinter group of al-Qaeda and stresses that "any individual, group, undertaking, or entity supporting ISIL or al-Qaeda" is subject to UN sanctions, including an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. The draft encourages the 193 UN member states "to more actively submit" names for inclusion on the sanctions list and expresses "increasing concern" at the failure of countries to implement previous sanctions resolutions.
Da’esh – A report in a British newspaper on the 17 Dec 15 said that the jihadis are hoping to take down the Internet and cause a global meltdown of services after developing a sophisticated mobile phone application which allows any of their followers to launch devastating cyber attacks. A computer security expert, who invented the McAfee anti-virus software, claimed "fifteen to 25 percent" of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims are extremists, meaning ISIS could have an army of 400 million fanatical followers ready to strike at any minute. Computer boffins at the terrorists' headquarters in Raqqa have developed a secret smartphone application designed to spread Islamist propaganda and help followers carry out terrorist attacks from the comfort of their own homes.
A team which may have included British hacker Junaid Hussain invented a feature which allows even the most computer illiterate of jihadis to launch sophisticated Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against websites. DDoS attacks work by flooding a site with fake traffic, causing it to grind to a halt, and have been successfully used against some of the world's biggest companies and government departm