Financing of Terrorism: The Islamic State and its Interest in Antiquities

For several years, Daesh, known as the Islamic State, has carried out several attacks on important archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq, destroying many objects that are part of the heritage of humanity.

What is behind this looting?

For 7 years, the US special forces that were present revealed that the Islamic State (IS) would be involved in the trafficking of antiquities. This trafficking is estimated to bring in between $20 million and $100 million a year to this terrorist organization.

After oil, the trafficking of antiquities has become the main source of funding for Daesh.

One of the most shocking attacks took place in 2015 in the city of Palmyra in Syria, an archaeological site classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The jihadists not only ravaged several statues and historical objects but also beheaded the archaeologist, Khaled al Asaad, who was in charge of the city at the time of the attack.

Today, many objects from the city of Palmyra and elsewhere are found on the black market. These antiques are resold, mainly, in Europe and North America. Turkey or Lebanon are the intermediaries. This situation has put UNESCO and Interpol on high alert.

The France and the United States are demanding stricter international controls in order to put an end to this source of terrorist financing, the global agency against the Financing of Terrorism joins this request which to date is not effective. However, for customs authorities, the challenge is more complex. Officers are still not well trained to identify these antiquities. The latter are often perceived as mere tourist souvenirs.

One of the major difficulties lies in the lack of international cooperation between Iraq's neighbouring countries and Syria. Border countries should apply control measures to register objects and antiquities passing through the neighbouring territory. However, some of these countries refuse to record these objects or carry out weak controls on border traffic.

ISIS has taken advantage of these weaknesses by establishing an illicit art trade network. Vases, stones and manuscripts are included in the list of antiquities with which this terrorist group collects money to finance their recruitment activities and thus boost their operational capacity to carry out terrorist attacks.

The Counter Financial Crime Agency in the context of the fight against the financing of terrorism offers its assistance in the creation of programs that make it possible to train and sensitize the various actors (governments, customs agents, sellers and collectors) in the fight against the illegal trade in antiquities in order to effectively combat this scourge.

Contact : contact@counterfinancialcrime.org – website : www. counterfinancialcrime.org