One of the strongest and richest terrorist organisations in the world the Islamic State (ISIS) may have been hit by the economic crisis as the group has slashed the salaries of its fighters.
ISIS decided to reduce the salaries that are paid to all mujahideen by half.
According to the Congressional Research Service, ISIS soldiers earn between $400 and $1,200 a month, plus a $50 stipend for their wives and $25 for each child.
However, the leaked document obtained by Aymenn Jawad al-
Tamimi, a leading scholar who tracks ISIS, revealed that the terrorist group can’t afford to pay its soldiers quite as much as it used to.
“On account of the exceptional circumstances the Islamic State is facing, it has been decided to reduce the salaries that are paid to all mujahideen by half, and it is not allowed for anyone to be exempted from this decision, whatever his position,” the ISIS’ government wrote in a memorandum.
CNN reports Al-Tamimi got the document from sources inside al-Raqqa, the seized Syrian city that ISIS declared as its capital.
ISIS did not explain why it was cutting the salaries but noted that it would continue to distribute provisions twice a month as usual.
The major source of pressure on ISIS’ finances is the US-led coalition that carried out a number of successful operations against the terrorists.
The recent airstrikes have been aimed at the terrorists’ oil business: blowing up oil trucks, storage tanks, mobile refineries and other oil field equipment.
According to the US treasury, in early 2015, ISIS was making $40 million a month on oil alone. But now, it is making only a fraction of that.
The US airstrikes have also targeted ISIS cash money. Earlier this month, the military made an extremely unusual move by dropping two 2,000-pound bombs on a building in central Mosul, Iraq, destroying a cache of cash worth “millions.”
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