|
 Those strikes include 116 oil tanker trucks hit by coalition
forces earlier this week as the United States targeted the vehicles
for the first time in the wake of last Friday's suicide and shooting
attacks in Paris claimed by Islamic State.
The stepped-up bombing campaign has also targeted oil rigs, pumps
and storage tanks, according to a Reuters tally of air strikes
provided by the Pentagon since Oct 22.
The campaign marks a more aggressive U.S. approach. Such targets had
previously been considered off limits by the U.S.-led coalition as
it sought to avoid civilian casualties and limit the damage to oil
infrastructure that could be needed later by a new Syrian
government.
The Pentagon said last Friday that its recent air strikes in Syria
had inflicted "significant damage" to Islamic State's ability to
fund itself. Dubbed "Tidal Wave II", the strikes have been
concentrated on oil facilities near Dayr Az Zawr and Abu Kamal,
which provide an estimated two-thirds of Islamic State's oil
revenue.
It remains unclear how far along the Pentagon campaign on Islamic
State oil infrastructure was toward achieving U.S. objectives and
how much bigger the pool of potential targets might be. In the past,
Islamic State has been able to repair oil facilities damaged in air
strikes in as little as 24 hours.
The goal this time is to knock oil fields out of commission for a
year or more without destroying them completely. That would deprive
the extremist group of revenues but allow oil resources to be
accessed by other forces if and when Islamic State is forced out of
the territory it currently occupies.
"Nobody wants this to be another Baiji," one U.S. official said,
referring to the disputed Iraqi oil refinery that has been rendered
unusable by U.S.-led strikes and bombings.
"Everything that we’re doing carries a timeline attached to it," the
official said.
VARIED TARGETS
The civilian fuel trucks hit this week are viewed as a crucial link
for the extremist group's oil business as they are used to transport
oil across Islamic State territory and sell it to residents who use
it to power generators and vehicles.
"We finally blew up a bunch of oil trucks," said former State
Department counter terrorism coordinator Daniel Benjamin. "It's not
entirely clear to me what took so long."
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, speaking at a briefing on Tuesday,
said no civilians appear to have been hurt in the truck strikes.
The targets can vary. On Nov. 8, coalition forces hit three
refineries and three pump sites. On Nov. 2, they hit 3 cranes, two
construction vehicles, an oil pump and a pump truck.
[to top of second column] |
Air strikes last year against targets such as mobile refineries had
cut the group's oil revenues from $3 million a day to under $1
million a day, according to several independent estimates.
But the group was able repair those facilities quickly, U.S.
officials say. It may struggle to do after the most recent bombings.
"They don’t have the wherewithal, the skill set and the materials to
repair the oil wells themselves," said Matthew Levitt, a former U.S.
Treasury Department official now at the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy.
The new strategy carries some risk. An aggressive bombing campaign
may permanently disable oil wells and other facilities, rendering
them useless for any future Syrian government.
"You'd want those to be available ultimately for the legitimate
governments that could follow, but that's just not on the horizon
right now. And meanwhile the Islamic State is making a lot of
money," Levitt said.
Coalition forces also run a greater risk of killing civilians who
work in the oil trade. And because most of the petroleum is sold
within the territory controlled by Islamic State, rather than
exported to other countries, any disruption in supply would likely
make life harder for a population that already is struggling to make
ends meet.
Islamic State is believed to rely on multiple revenue streams to
finance its activity.
Benjamin said some reports suggest Islamic State still earns as much
as $40 million per month from oil sales, a total that further
strikes could significantly reduce.
But a February report by the Financial Action Task Force, an
international anti-money laundering body, found that Islamic State
makes most of its money by taxing or extorting those who live in the
area it controls, rather than selling oil. It also profits from
kidnapping and the sale of antiquities.
(Additional reporting by Warren Strobel and Phil Stewart; editing by
Stuart Grudgings.)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
