Thursday, September 25, 2014

Two can play at the game – US pounds ISIS oil wells and ISIS sets free 150 prisoners


The strategy of US and allies to pound oil wells that account for the major source of finance of the ISIS seems to have hit the mark and terrorists who are fighting for ISIS in Syria are believed to have freed 150 prisoners in the group's de facto capital Raqqa dailymail.co.uk.
The air forces of Saudi Arabia and UAE have carried out a majority of the coordinated attacks by targeting 12 'modular oil refineries' in eastern Syria that have the ability to extract thousands of barrels of crude oil a day.
Much of this oil is smuggled into neighboring oil-producing regions in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan at reduced price and then sold of mainstream markets. In the process, ISIS has become the wealthiest terror group of all time with an estimated $1billion in cash reserves.
The ISIS fighters who set the prisoners free want to prevail upon America and its Arab allies to end the campaign of airstrikes. The desperate militants have reportedly released the captives overnight in the belief that the move could encourage an anti-ISIS coalition of nations to focus their raids away from Raqqa. The 150 prisoners who have been set free by the group are all believed to have been arrested in recent weeks and could be locals accused of committing minor crimes.
Incidentally, Raqqa is the stronghold of ISIS and is widely thought to be a base for the group's senior figures - including leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - and where British hostages Alan Henning and John Cantlie are being held. The news comes as a fresh wave of airstrikes from the United States and its Arab allies hit ISIS oil refineries overnight, killing at least 14 militants and striking at the heart of the terror group's funding.
ISIS generates up to $2million a day from the sale of oil, employing highly trained engineers to extract thousands of barrels a day from the vast swaths of Syria and Iraq under the terror group's control.

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