Publication

This paper analyzes the sustainability of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) revenue sources, such as seizures of assets of state owned banks, taxation, oil trafficking, kidnapping, and artifact smuggling. The author argues that even though ISIL has been able to obtain vast amounts of financial and other resources through its sources of revenue in a relatively short period of time, these sources are mostly unsustainable. He suggests that this means that ISIL must rapidly expand to increase its revenues or it will slowly disappear.