Isis burst on to the scene only two years ago causing a political earthquake in the Middle East, its ripple effects exploding into a new global terrorist threat. Since then, its rapid and deadly advance through Iraq and Syria has confounded regional and world powers.
Terror has been one of the main tools of control in its arsenal. Money has been another.
For several months during 2015, Financial Times reporters investigated the financial dealings of this jihadi off-shoot of Al-Qaeda. The London-based global business newspaper interviewed energy workers in Isis-controlled plants, middlemen, black market traders and “citizens” of its self-proclaimed caliphate to reveal how Isis makes and spends an estimated $900m a year.
Inside Isis Inc. republishes these FT articles to lay bare a meticulous and sophisticated operation that preys on local populations and has no qualms about doing business with its enemies.
