After intensifying its bombing of Islamic State (ISIL) oil infrastructure, a Pentagon official talked up the strategy on Thursday, despite conceding that it’s too early to tell if the targeting is having a desired effect.
Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said that the strikes against ISIL’s petrol assets in Syria likely won’t yield an immediate impact, but used a boxing metaphor to claim they will eventually.
“I look at it as in boxing as body shots, right?” Col. Warren said via satellite from Iraq. “You work the body in early rounds, and maybe you won’t get a knock-out from those early round body shots, but several rounds later you’ll see your opponent’s knees begin to get to weak, he’ll lose some of the snap off his jab, and now he’s beginning to get set up for the knock-out.”
Previous comments made by the Pentagon, however, suggest that Col. Warren’s promise of a forthcoming financial “knock-out” might overly optimistic. Former Defense Department spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said in February that oil is no longer ISIL’s top moneymaker.
“They get a lot of donations. They also have a significant black market program going on. But what I can tell you is that we now know that oil is no longer the lead source of revenue,” Kirby told reporters.
Following last month’s ISIL-inspired attacks in Paris, the Pentagon ramped up strikes against the organization’s oil production and distribution equipment–a move that led to the bombing of 116-truck convoy in Eastern Syria. Many of the drivers were likely civilians living under ISIL occupation. US officials claimed they dropped leaflets warning drivers to abandon their vehicles before the strikes.
At the onset of the conflict last summer, US officials stated they were hesitant to bomb oil targets, warning that such strikes could lead to long-term environmental and economic damage. Despite that, by January of 2015, the State Department claimed that coalition forces had targeted 200 Syrian oil wells since hostilities began.
For more on the coalition’s campaign against ISIL oil infrastructure, check out District Sentinel Radio Episode 16: From Paris to Raqqa featuring an interview with Chris Woods of Airwars.org.
