ISIS Strengths And Weaknesses

May 22, 2017 was a day that shook the global community and showed just how deadly terrorist organizations can be. On that Monday, a 22 year old of British Muslim decent named Salman Ramadan Abedi set off a homemade bomb while exiting the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. This bombing occurred at the end of a sold out Ariana Grande concert. This attack left twenty three adults and children killed, including Abedi. 119 people were injured with 23 of them left in critical condition. The terrorist organization known as "ISIS" claimed responsibility for this attack as they have for so many others. ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is a militant group that follows their own form of Sunni Islam. ISIS is more widely known as a
One of their biggest sources of income is from oil sales. ISIS generates somewhere in the range of $1 million to $2 million dollars each day from selling oil. They get their oil from refineries that they have captured in north Iraq and north Syria. ISIS then turns around and sells this oil to the people in the areas they control who are just trying to live their normal daily lives. It is estimated that around 6 million people live in ISIS controlled territories. Ransoms also make up a large part of ISIS' income per year. It is estimated by the U.S. government that in the last decade ISIS and al Qaeda have received close to $125 million in ransoms for the return of people they have kidnapped. These kidnappings include people from all parts of the world. In 2013, it is reported that ISIS kidnapped four French citizens, Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias, and DIdier Francois. Then in 2014 the French government negotiated with ISIS and paid an unknown amount to free these French citizens. These ransoms must be paid or ISIS will take matters into their own brutal hands. The United States chose not to negotiate with ISIS which led to the death of journalist James Foley who was brutally beheaded on camera. Later on, ISIS captured two Japanese citizens and asked for a $200 million ransom which the Japanese
ISIS lets locals mine at ancient and historic sites under the agreement that anything found will be sold and a percentage will go to ISIS. These sites were ISIS have mined are being destroyed beyond recovery which is very disheartening to the locals as these sites are very meaningful. One such historical site they have destroyed was the tomb of Jonah. On top of looting historical sites ISIS has no respect for historical structures cutting up statues and selling them. They even have used the ancient city of Hatra as a place to train recruits, keep weapons, and even murder prisoners. In an effort to seem like a legitimate Caliphate and run their day to day operations ISIS has imposed "Taxes". These taxes are less like taxes and more like extortion but it has become a normal part of everyday life for people living in ISIS controlled territories. Businesses have to pay these taxes if they want to keep the lights on and not get ransacked by ISIS themselves. People who are driving through checkpoints also frequently have to hand over cash to the armed guards. ISIS has even resorted to stealing or burglaries. ISIS raided multiple banks in Mosul in June 2014 and stole close to $500 million dollars. There have even been recent reports of bodies being found mutilated and opened up with some of the organs missing which would suggest that ISIS may be getting into the organ trafficking business but this is all