The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a global organization, enlisting followers from around the world to join its fight in establishing a caliphate. Just this summer we learned about three British mothers who left their homes to join in the militancy and two Australian teens, intercepted at the Sydney Airport en route to the Middle East. Using online videos and social media, ISIL has challenged conventional notions of state security, attracting supporters from Europe, Australia, and the United States. As recent information reveals, however, ISIL is not only recruiting people. Acting within the international market system, the group relies on foreign goods and services for its daily activity. Disrupting these economic channels represents one of the most effective methods of crippling ISIL and resolving ongoing militant conflict in the region.
Collecting propaganda footage, analysts have started to notice the presence of a certain Japanese automaker in ISIL photos and videos. Specifically, over the last year images have surfaced of Toyota Land Cruisers and Hilux pickup trucks outfitted with guns and staffing the ISIL flag. To be fair, Toyotas are not the only vehicles roaming the roads of Iraq and Syria; ISIL has been known to use Mitsubishis, Hyundais, and Isuzus to support their efforts as well. By far, though, Toyota’s trucks – often traveling in full-out convoys – are the most prevalent.
Why Toyota? Just looking at the brochure for the Hilux (a model not sold in the US) provides the answer. The truck is praised for its “quality, durability, and reliability.” According to the page, “[e]ver since its launch in 1968, this iconic pickup has left its mark wherever it goes […] nothing can faze the new Hilux.” Apparently, not even the task of maintaining a multi-state militant operation in the Middle East can get in the way.
This use of the Hilux in combat, of course, is nothing new. During the 2011 civil war in Libya, Toyota trucks were rigged with “anti-aircraft guns or missile batteries.” Even before this, the vehicles were in frequent use by al-Qaeda through the 2000s and by the Taliban in the 1990s. A 1987 conflict between Chad and Libya became known as “The Toyota War” because of the role of the trucks in the fighting. With this context, then, it is no surprise why Toyotas are so popular for ISIL. The real question is how the group has managed to get ahold of so many of these vehicles. In search of answers, a special Terror Financing unit at the U.S. Department of the Treasury began an investigation of Toyota earlier this month.
For their part, Toyota has been quite cooperative with these efforts. After sending a letter to Toyota headquarters in March of this year, former Ambassador to the UN and current CEO of the Counter Extremism Project, Mark Wallace, received word from the automaker. According to its statement, “Toyota has a strict policy not to sell vehicles to a potential purchaser if we have knowledge that it might be used for paramilitary or terrorist activities.” That’s a good start, but as Toyota itself notes, “the origin of the vehicles seen in the news coverage […] is unknown to us.” The demand for Toyotas is certain, yet their supply remains a mystery.
While no dealerships currently operate in Syria, the Japanese automaker has made numerous sales in Iraq over the past several years. In 2011, about 6,000 Land Cruisers and Hiluxes were sold in the country, and last year that number rose to approximately 13,000. According to a report by Popular Mechanics, these trends should not be surprising. Japan, after all, exports new and used vehicles around the globe, and Toyota is “the world’s second largest auto maker.” Despite these numbers, though, Toyota claims no direct sales have been made to ISIL. Instead, middlemen may be the ones closing the deals, bidding on vehicles at auctions and shipping their prizes to the Middle East. Last year, for example, Texas plumber Mark Oberholtzer spotted his truck in a video distributed by a Syrian rebel group. After its sale in Texas, the vehicle became a tool of terror thousands of miles away in the Middle East.
Theft, too, might explain Toyota’s rising mileage in ISIL operations. Earlier this year, a report from Australia’s Daily Telegraph suggested that a massive number of stolen and unfound trucks might have made their way to the Middle East as part of a larger network of organized crime. The U.S. has actively sent Toyotas to the region, too, as part of an aid package in support of the Free Syrian Army. These trucks – along with similar ones provided to the Red Cross and the United Nations – could easily have been stolen and ended up in the wrong hands.
No matter how they are supplied, though, it is significant that ISIL was interested in purchasing Toyotas in the first place. The group is opposed to Western society and developed countries like Japan, critiquing the very culture that manufactured these vehicles. This is evident in looking at ISIL’s financials. As the New York Times Editorial Board explained, the extremist organization “generates the vast majority of its revenue from within the territory it controls.” With a monopoly over oil fields in eastern Syria, ISIL makes a fortune selling crude oil to local civilians and rebel groups. Ransoms, frequently directed internationally, are also a significant source of domestic income. Instead of relying on outside funding, a leaked document from Deir ez-Zor Province suggests that seventy percent of regional revenue actually comes from taxes and the confiscation of property.
Yet in certain cases, ISIL favors international markets. As Mark Wallace of the Counter Extremism Project noted, “[r]egrettably, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have effectively become almost part of the ISIS brand […]”. The trucks have come to be seen by many as a symbol of ISIL power, avoided by local consumers as a result of this association. With communications, too, militants have been known to use messaging servers like WhatsApp and to post videos on YouTube. Despite its preference for local control, even ISIL, the wealthiest terror organization in the world, finds it necessary to use world markets. It cannot help but play its part in the international economic system.
This soft spot for global supply-chains may provide a new opportunity in the fight against ISIL. Considering the limited effect bombing has had on local resourcing, as well as the recent announcement that the U.S. will stop its program of training Syrian rebels, the US and its allied coalition needs a new tactic to confront extremist operations. As the New York Times explained last week, “money is a potential Achilles’ heel” for ISIL and targeting their cash flow may be the key to future success. With about ten million civilians in its territorial control, ISIL cannot reasonably continue to extort local communities into the future. The group has gained significant territory, but it still needs to prove that it can support the civilians living there.
This reasoning may have been the motivation for the U.S. government’s investigation of Toyota. The Treasury has worked to “cut access to the international financial system” for terrorist groups in the past, even placing sanctions on ISIL officials. But these tactics represent only the start of a wider financial war. Coalition efforts should take advantage of ISIL’s globalized dependence, tracking illegal trading and punishing international suppliers. Instead of dropping bombs and training troops, they should work with communities to disrupt illegal markets and support local business. Focusing on both the source of domestic revenue and the supply of world goods, the U.S.-led coalition can deal serious blows to ISIL’s economic longevity.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is not just raising money for terror activity; they are funding the construction of an entire state. Yet despite their regional control, even ISIL is tied to the world market. It is only by following this flow of money that coalition efforts can begin to curb Toyota trading and drive terror away from the Middle East.
Photo: Day Donaldson