The New York Times: ISIS uses $400 million and 18,000 fighters to regain its influence

ISIS’ wealth of about $ 400 million has been hidden in Iraq and Syria or smuggled into neighboring countries in search of safety, The New York Times reported on Monday.

ISIS’ wealth of about $ 400 million has been hidden in Iraq and Syria or smuggled into neighboring countries in search of safety, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Five months after the ISIS battles in Baghouz, the last area of its control in Syria, ISIS is trying to regain its influence, equip its financial network, and launch attacks by sleeper cells across Iraq and Syria, taking advantage of its $400 million fortune, according to Iraqi and American officials.

ISIS is mobilizing about 18,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, where these dormant cells and combat squads carry out sniping, ambushes, kidnappings and assassinations against security forces.

In the past few months, ISIS has entered sprawling camps in northeastern Syria. 

US intelligence officials say that the Hul camp, run by the Kurdish administration, the SDF, with little aid or security, is evolving into an ideological focus of ISIS and a huge breeding ground for future terrorists, according to The New York Times.

The US-backed Syrian-Kurdish force is holding more than 10,000 ISIS fighters, including 2,000 foreigners, in separate temporary prisons.