Summary
Highlights
The Islamic State (Daesh) wields significant power, presenting itself as a global caliphate. Unlike previous terrorist groups, ISIS has established its own state, controlling a territory the size of Italy across Syria and Iraq, home to ten million people. Led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS employs barbaric methods like slavery and decapitation to assert authority and directly threatens the West. The documentary highlights the group's sophisticated propaganda, recruitment of foreign fighters, and the 2015 Paris attacks as examples of their global reach and capabilities.
The investigation delves into ISIS's diverse funding sources, starting with oil, which generates nearly 600 million euros annually. ISIS extracts oil rudimentarily, selling it at greatly reduced prices on the black market, particularly to Turkey. This illicit trade is facilitated by the porous borders and lack of proper enforcement of international embargoes. Additionally, ISIS profits from agriculture, specifically cotton, controlling 90% of Syrian cotton fields and taxing it heavily. This cotton often ends up in low-cost clothing sold internationally, including in France, highlighting the unwitting complicity of some consumers.
ISIS benefits from legal export sectors, like the trade of goods from Turkey to Syria. Trucks carrying food, cement, and other products cross into ISIS-controlled territories, where they are taxed. This not only generates revenue but also allows some private donors to directly fund ISIS by sending goods for resale. The Hawala system, an informal money transfer network, is crucial for ISIS to bypass international banking blockades, transferring vast sums of money from traders and donors to their coffers, with ISIS imposing its own taxes on these transactions.
ISIS governs its occupied territories like a state, implementing a lucrative tax policy on its ten million citizens. This includes mandatory Zakat (charity) that functions as an income tax, taxes on merchants (5-10% of turnover), and fees for essential services like electricity (where they profit from generators due to damaged infrastructure). Surprisingly, ISIS further benefits from the fact that the Iraqi government continues to pay the salaries of civil servants in ISIS-held Mosul, with ISIS taking a significant percentage (up to 50%) of these salaries as taxes, effectively making their enemies fund their operations.
ISIS's brutal administration leads to the persecution of religious minorities, like Christians in Iraq, who are forced to convert, pay an exorbitant 'jizya' tax, or face death. This leads to mass exodus and allows ISIS to seize property. Beyond persecution, ISIS engages in systematic looting and trafficking of relics and antiquities from historical sites, including those designated as World Heritage Sites like Palmyra. These stolen artifacts are sold on the black market to unscrupulous collectors, generating significant sums, and are handled by intermediaries who deal directly with ISIS representatives.
With an annual budget exceeding two billion euros, ISIS uses its wealth to fund its military ambitions, paying fighters salaries, bonuses, and even allowances for wives, slaves, and children. Their high-definition propaganda films, crafted with Hollywood-level production and translated into multiple languages, are a key marketing tool to recruit new fighters and spread terror. ISIS is also expanding globally by opening 'franchises' in countries like Yemen, Algeria, Tunisia, and Nigeria (Boko Haram), leveraging its communication strategies to establish new markets for its brand of terror. Despite its vast resources, the documentary concludes that ISIS's economic model faces long-term challenges in sustaining a true state, pushing it towards continuous expansion to secure new resources.