US Treasury: Bashar al-Assad's Government Purchases Oil from ISIS

The Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury has stated that a significant portion of the Islamic State group's revenue comes from selling oil to Bashar al-Assad's government, the President of Syria. Adam Zubin, the Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury for Terrorism and Economic Intelligence, said on Thursday, December 10, that ISIS earns about $40 million monthly from oil sales. According to Reuters, Mr. Zubin added that a considerable amount of this oil is sold to Bashar al-Assad's government, while another portion goes to Turkey and Kurdish regions. The Deputy Secretary emphasized, 'Both sides butcher each other, but at the same time, they trade millions and millions of dollars with each other.' These remarks by Adam Zubin come amid unprecedented tensions between the Russian and Turkish governments, where initially Moscow accused Ankara of purchasing oil from ISIS, and then Ankara, denying the accusation, accused Moscow of trading with the Islamic State. The US has also rejected the accusation against Turkey. Earlier, the US Treasury sanctioned a Syrian trader named George Haswani for brokering oil purchases from ISIS for Syria. In a statement released by the Treasury on November 25, it was emphasized that Mr. Haswani used his engineering and construction company, HESCO, to facilitate oil transactions between the Assad regime and ISIS. According to the US Treasury, this trader operates 'on behalf of the Syrian government' in this area. George Haswani was also placed on the EU sanctions list in March 2015 for the same accusation. The Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Economic Intelligence emphasized that ISIS has so far earned over $500 million from oil sales on the black market and one billion dollars from looting banks in Syria and Iraq. This group governs large parts of these two countries.