Russian Military Says Its Bombing Sharply Cut IS Oil Incomes

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) -- The Russian military has destroyed numerous oil facilities and tankers controlled by the Islamic State group in Syria, sharply cutting its income, Russia's defense minister said Friday.

Sergei Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin Friday that Russian warplanes destroyed 15 oil refining and storage facilities in Syria and 525 trucks carrying oil during this week's bombing blitz. He said this deprived the IS of $1.5 million in daily income from oil sales.

Russia, which has conducted an air campaign in Syria since Sept. 30, sharply raised the intensity starting Tuesday following confirmation that the Russian plane in Egypt was downed by a bomb, which the Islamic State group said it had planted.

The Russian leader has discussed cooperation on fighting the IS during his meetings with President Barack Obama and other Western leaders at the sidelines of the Group of 20 rich and developing nations in Turkey earlier this week.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-20-11-36-49

[StrayKat]

1. Smoke Screen

This seems like a smoke screen to me. Although Daesh does smuggle oil for money, taking over the bank system seems to be where they get their money these days. More than a billion.

What's more, Russia has opened fired on the Ukraine while the world watches what it does in Syria.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/russia-opens-fire-on-ukraine/2015/11/19/2aac4f8a-8efc-11e5-baf4-bdf37355da0c_story.html

[uawchild]

6. Nice to see the Washington Post is still spinning

Read the article, seems Russia did not fire on the Ukraine, "Russian guns" did -- i.e. continued low level hostilities from the rabble of disorganized ethnic Russian "rebels" from their "independent country" that is, what, 10-50 miles wide along part of he Ukraine-Russian border.

Nice try from the Washington Post in the misleading headline department of fear and war mongering.


See the sliver of "rebel" held territory.

The "rebels" are a joke, more of them and their civilians have died and suffered in this conflict than anyone else. The only thing they are really a threat to is themselves, their region is now a basket case economically.

[Helen Borg]

2. Don't they already have

a big pile of money in the bank?...

[CJCRANE]

3. Do their banks have billions of dollars in cash?

Isis needs 2 to 3 billion per year to run their cities and armies.

[Democat]

5. If you have money in the bank, would you mind someone cutting off your income?

Most people would eventually run out of money, no matter how much they have saved up.

[uawchild]

4. Good. Every Oil $ ISIS can't have is a good thing.

"What Keeps ISIS Running: the Funding and Support of a Terror Organization

To a certain degree, the Islamic State is self-financing. It raises most of its money from the territories it feeds off of, namely Syria and Iraq, and with them, it has taken control of important resources like dams, granaries and oil installations. IS’ most important revenue source is the smuggling of oil from the dozen oil fields it controls in these nations. As reported by the U.S. Treasury Department last year, an estimate of their revenue ranged from $1 to $2 million a day. The Islamic State is also imposing strict taxes on its citizens, charging for services such as electricity and telephone access (paid in cash to IS’ own revenue agency, Al Hisba), and imposes customs on imported goods."
http://egyptianstreets.com/2015/05/11/what-keeps-isis-running-the-funding-and-support-of-a-terror-organization/