Insurgents Have Amassed Cash Trove From Middle East Donors
PARIS—France called for coordinated international action to cut off the Islamic State's access to financial resources amid fears that the Sunni insurgency has become the world's richest jihadist movement.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the extremist group, already a formidable military force, has enhanced its power by amassing huge piles of cash, thanks in part to individual donors from the Middle East.
"The attacks in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, cost $1 million," Mr. Fabius told French radio RMC on Friday. "Today, we estimate the Islamic State has several billions."
With the insurgency's rapid expansion this summer threatening Iraq's government, theU.S. is conducting airstrikes in northern areas of Iraq controlled by the Islamic State, while France and other European countries have decided to supply weapons to Iraq's Kurdish forces.
Mr. Fabius said that beyond military support, Western and Middle East countries must agree on measures to dry up the Islamic State's finances.
The group's leaders have "become better-funded through various funding streams," said U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes. "They pose a greater threat today than they did six months ago, and we're taking it very seriously," he added.
The insurgency's vast cash resources have allowed it to remunerate foreign fighters who have joined its cause and to secure weapons, ammunition and food supplies to function like a full-fledged army, said Alain Rodier, a former intelligence officer who works as an analyst at the French Cf2R think tank.
"That is why it is important to deliver a hit on their wallet," he said.
The Islamic State has collected funds from rich individuals who "think they can buy protection for themselves by helping the Islamic State," Mr. Fabius said. He declined to name the countries involved.
Mr. Rodier said Western intelligence reports point to a number of Qatari individuals funding the insurgents.
The Islamic State also is selling oil stored or produced in areas under its control at a steep discount to market prices. Truck loads are smuggled through the border with Turkey, Mr. Rodier said.
"Those networks are well-established, but it is necessary to take on the buyers," he said.
In June, the insurgents gained control of Mosul in northern Iraq, seizing the local branch of the country's central bank.
The reserves contained in the bank's vaults were first estimated at more than $400 million, but may have been vastly overestimated.
The Sunni group is also raising money through protection rackets, extorting cash from refugees seeking to flee abroad, and collecting ransoms in exchange for hostages, Mr. Rodier said.
In April, the group released four French reporters it had held hostage for months, sparking speculation that France had paid to help bring them home. The debate resurfaced this week after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the beheading of American reporter James Foley.
On Thursday, Mr. Fabius repeated the government's denial, saying, "The French government doesn't pay ransom."
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