Militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group are increasingly relying on money raised by extortion of local communities in eastern Syria to fund their terror activity, local officials said.
The practice has largely been taking place in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, according to military officials with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a military alliance that has been a major U.S. partner in the fight against IS.
Large parts of Deir el-Zour have been under the control of the SDF since 2019 following a major U.S.-backed military campaign that marked the territorial defeat of IS, also known as ISIS or Daesh.
The terror group has maintained a network of sleeper cells, though, and they have carried out occasional attacks against civilians and SDF fighters throughout the region.
“Daesh uses several ways to demand money from storeowners,” said Turki al-Dhari, an official with the Deir el-Zour Military Council, an SDF-affiliated group. “This includes the use of violence or the threat of violence against civilians to extort money.”
The military official said IS militants also have used this method to collect money from people who work or cooperate with the SDF and its civilian institutions.
“We have seen Daesh doing this activity increasingly in the eastern countryside of Deir el-Zour,” al-Dhari told VOA. “Those who refuse to pay them face punishment — often by bombing their stores, houses or cars.”
Some of the money collected from locals goes to the families of killed IS fighters, al-Dhari added.
“Their extortion activities in the area have increased because of a security gap in some areas of Deir el-Zour,” he told VOA.
With support from the U.S.-led coalition, the SDF recently conducted several counterterrorism operations against IS operatives in the region, including a multi-week campaign inside the al-Hol Camp, where thousands of people live, including families of IS fighters. The operation ended in mid-September with the arrest of more than 200 people.
A Syrian Kurdish official said a U.S. drone strike Monday killed an IS militant in an area of northeast Syria that is under the control of Turkish-backed Syrian opposition groups. The U.S. hasn’t commented on the reported attack.
Last week, the U.S. military announced that its special forces had conducted a helicopter raid targeting three key IS leaders in a village controlled by Syrian government forces in northeast Syria. One of the militant leaders was killed, while the other two were captured, U.S. Central Command confirmed.
This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish service.