Islamic State: US airstrikes, internal divisions take toll on militants
Oil revenues are declining and the flow of foreign jihadists may be slowing. Airstrikes in Syria by a US-led coalition come as Iraqi forces continue to battle IS in northern Iraq.
Oil revenues are declining and the flow of foreign jihadists may be slowing. Airstrikes in Syria by a US-led coalition come as Iraqi forces continue to battle IS in northern Iraq.
Reports of new attacks in territory held by the self-declared Islamic State suggest that the jihadist group may be struggling to maintain its infrastructure and that its supply of volunteer fighters could be starting to thin.
Airstrikes carried out by the US-led coalition against IS hit an IS-run oil refinery near the town of Tal Abyad聽(Tell Abyad)聽on the Syrian-Turkish border Monday, killing 30 IS soldiers and refinery workers, reports The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group.聽
Reuters reports that such attacks have cut the militant group's oil revenue, which in November was estimated by the UN to be between $850,000 and $1.5 million per day. Between airstrikes and a global supply glut, oil is no longer the primary source of income for IS, the Pentagon believes.
The Observatory also reported on Sunday that at least 12 IS fighters were killed in a pair of attacks by unknown guerrilla fighters in al-Myadin (Al Mayadin), a city in eastern Syria. The guerrillas, riding motorbikes, struck an IS patrol in the city, killing a dozen, before attacking another IS post, killing an unknown number of additional IS militants.
The Washington Post reports that such attacks on IS within its own territory are becoming increasingly common. The Post is quick to note that the reports "don鈥檛 offer any indication that the group faces an immediate challenge to its stranglehold over the mostly Sunni provinces of eastern Syria and western Iraq." But the uptick in both fighting between various factions within IS and guerrilla attacks against the group suggest that IS is struggling to maintain its grip.
The Post adds that there are signs that some foreign IS jihadis are attempting to flee the region, according to activists on the Syrian鈥揟urkey border. One activist group, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, reports that IS has implemented a series of clampdowns on travel out of its territory. And the Syrian Observatory notes that some 120 IS fighters have been publicly executed in recent weeks. The fighters allegedly were killed for infractions like spying, but are suspected of having tried to flee IS territory.
海角大神 reported last month that Islamic State had imposed a nighttime curfew at the border in Tell Abyad in an attempt to curb defections and prevent anyone crossing into Turkey.聽
The Sunday Telegraph reported that of some 700 "dangerous" Britons who traveled to Syria to fight for IS, about 320 have returned home. The Telegraph adds that the flow of volunteers going to Syria from Britain has 鈥渟ignificantly slackened鈥� according to government authorities, as those seeking to fight against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have found themselves disillusioned by IS barbarity.