A rocket believed to have been launched by Islamic State forces flies from the east to the west side of the Syrian town of Kobani during fighting on November 6, 2014. Picture taken from the Turkish side of the Turkey-Syria border.
With dozens of nations now opposed to ISIS, you'd think its military and logistical strength would be somewhat degraded by now.
But it seems ISIS can still get hold of hold of arms and ammunition with relative ease.
The Financial Times has just published an investigation into the ISIS munitions trail. "It's all about the money. It's all for the dollar," says Erika Solomon who was the lead reporter for FT.
In essence, because ISIS has money, it can buy what it needs in Middle East black markets. These markets are awash with weapons and ammunition, after decades of war.
ISIS uses independent arms dealers, who are given passes to allow them to move and operate freely in ISIS territory. The movement sets prices, which correlate closely to the going market rate, and the dealers buy up whatever they find.
The markets are constantly topped up with fresh supplies. One source is the enemies of ISIS, whose impoverished foot soldiers are easily tempted to sell off their arms and ammo to the dealers. Solomon spoke with one Hezbollah soldier who’d done exactly this after returning to Lebanon from fighting ISIS in Syria.
Ammunition is the movement’s main need. Most of its front-line units are fully equipped with light and heavy weapons. But ammunition expenditure is prodigious.
More sophisticated materials — such as laptops and garage-door openers for improvised explosive devices — are smuggled in from Turkey mainly, but also Lebanon and Iraq. But they could originate from anywhere in the world.
“One official put it to me,” says Solomon, “put your finger on a map (of the world) and probably something came from there.”