Islamic State militants are siphoning millions of dollars each month from the Iraqi government by taking a portion of salaries paid to employees in ISIS-controlled areas such as Mosul, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The Iraqi government continues to pay government employees in those areas in order to maintain local support, however ISIS is intercepting the money to fund operations, according to U.S. officials.
The U.S. also provides Baghdad with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual support, and it’s unclear whether some of that cash is used towards government salaries. U.S. and Iraqi officials are considering whether to cut off employee payroll in those areas and lose support. Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
{Matzav.com}
