The Jihad Goes Soft: Cotton Yet Another Source of Revenue for Daesh

Swiss regional daily newspaper has provided yet another evidence of Turkey’s involvement into trade with the jihadist terrorist group Daesh (also known as ISIL/ISIS).

As it turns out, in addition to smuggling oil out of war-torn Syria, the group also profits from other Syria's natural resources, cotton in particular.

Cotton used to be one of Syria's staple exports, and now, much of the fertile land that provided this cash crop is in the hands of Daesh militants.  The newspaper says that it is now shipped through Turkey to some western enterprises and “ends up in the production lines of the Western clothing brands.”

The enterprises, it says, “have the greatest difficulty to clearly identify the origin of their raw materials.”

“The clothes we buy so often used to buy weapons that are turned against innocents and to finance terrorism, which runs rampant in our democracies. Despite the assurances and declarations of intent of the producers, it is impossible to identify all stakeholders involved in this ever-changing list of cotton owners and locations,” it says.

The market players, the newspaper says, are primarily concerned with the quality  of the product and its origin comes secondary.

These resources bring Daesh yet another benefit, in addition to its oil revenues of $2 million a day.