The exploitation of natural resources in the financing of terrorism. The case of ISIS in Syria and Iraq
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Keywords
Energy ; Terrorism ; Natural resources ; FinancingAbstract
As terrorist groups expand worldwide, a worrisome phenomenon can be observed: the capacity of the above-mentioned groups to exploit natural resources in order to finance their activities, given the advantages that this source of revenue offers. Given that, it is of great importance to advance the discussion on terrorists' exploitation of natural resources in the framework of a broader effort to firsty understand the phenomenon and secondly to counter the financing of terrorism. Τhe target of the present diploma thesis is to examine the links between natural resources and its exploitation by terrorist groups to finance their political, ideological, practical, military and terrorist activities. More specifically, the exploitation of Syrian and Iraqi oil fields by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, during the civil wars that took part in the countries mentioned.