ISIS

As we have detailed in the past, the dramatic reduction in cash flow from oil sales has taken a tremendous toll on ISIS. A shortage of oil revenues has led to ISIS becoming so desperate for cash that it has even killed its own fighters in order to sell their organs. Now, it appears that another method is being tried to raise funds, this time by taking a page out of the standard government playbook: when you run out of cash, simply find ways to raise taxes on everyone.

Russia have successfully completed a round of airstrikes in northern Syria by targeting oil tankers owned by ISIS, obliterating their financial resources.  Newly released footage filmed by ISIS shows oil tankers left completely destroyed after being hit by Russian fighter jets in al-Mansurah, 20 km from Raqqa. Almasdarnews.com reports: ISIS, a notorious death cult known for its barbaric executions, is illegally trading with stolen Syrian and Iraqi oil to finance its bloodthirsty jihadists and purchase weapons. The destination of the destroyed tankers is still unknown.

As the noose continues to tighten against the Islamic State, now that a military campaign has been launched against its capital Raqqa, ISIS has reportedly taken its gruesome acts to new highs. Following reports that ISIS is now capitalizing on the sex trade by selling sex slaves on FaceBook to refill its rapidly dwindling coffers, the Kurdish ARA News agency reports that ISIS publicly executed 19 Kurdish women of the Yezidi minority, who were burned alive in iron cages.

Submitted by Eric Zuesse, Investigative historian and author of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of  CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.

What Most Syrians See of Their War

Here is a video of what most Syrians are seeing and experiencing of the war, and it’s titled “Living in the crosshairs, May 29th 2016 ENG SUBS” (the “ENG SUBS” means “English subtitles”).

Starting about two weeks ago, a new campaign was launched to put the substantially weakened Islamic State on the defensive: in the south, Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Popular Mobilization, and Sunni tribal fighters have closed in on a multiple-axis assault to encircle the city of Fallujah. As we reported previously, Iraqi forces, together with Kurdish Peshmerga forces, Shi'ite Muslim militias, and Sunni tribal fighters, backed by U.S.-led coalition forces, have pushed on toward Fallujah after recapturing several key cities in the past year, including Ramadi, Tikrit, and Baiji.