Iraq: ISIS has stolen one million tons of grain and transported it to Syria

Iraqi government officials say that ISIS has stolen one million tons of grain from northern Iraq and transferred it to Syria. Reuters reports, citing Iraq's Minister of Agriculture, that the militants of the Islamic State have stolen one million tons of wheat and barley from Nineveh province and transported it to two cities under their control in Syria. Falah Hassan Al-Zidan stated in a statement published on the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture's website on Sunday: "The government has information indicating that the militants of the Islamic State have seized one million tons of wheat and barley from Nineveh province in northern Iraq and transferred it to the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor in Syria." Reuters has not been able to fully verify the accuracy of this information. Following the Islamic State's invasion of northern Iraq in June, the militants took control of grain silos in Nineveh and Salah al-Din provinces. Nearly one-third of Iraq's wheat and 40% of its barley are produced in these two provinces. The former head of Iraq's Grain Organization told Reuters in August that ISIS militants had confiscated between 40,000 to 50,000 tons of wheat in Nineveh and Anbar provinces and transported it to Syria for milling. However, the exact amount of wheat confiscated by the Islamic State over the summer remains unclear. ISIS has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, including many farmers, from their homes and lands, which could be considered a form of ethnic cleansing. The militants' attack coincided with the wheat harvest season in these areas. Many farmers were unable to sell their wheat crops to the government or the private sector due to the crisis and war. ISIS hopes to make its self-proclaimed caliphate self-sufficient. The Iraqi Minister of Agriculture added that ISIS militants consider eastern Syrian cities to be safe, which is why they have transferred the wheat and barley from Nineveh there for storage. Iraq's Grain Organization imports millions of tons of wheat and rice annually. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has predicted in a new report that "due to the problems caused by the war and its impact on production, storage, and other logistical aspects, Iraq's need for grain imports will increase."