Iraqi intelligence dismantles ISIS funding network
Shafaq News – Baghdad
On Monday, Iraq’s National Intelligence Service (INIS) arrested an ISIS funding network accused of financing the group and facilitating the smuggling of militants.
In a statement, INIS noted the arrests were carried out through a “special cross-border operation,” adding that the effort was part of ongoing efforts linked to a 2023 INIS operation in Kirkuk against an ISIS network financing its cells.
The latest operation took place in several West African countries after monitoring communications between the network and other cells inside and outside Iraq. According to the INIS, the group was also planning terrorist attacks aimed at European states and Iraqi interests abroad.
بيان صادر عن جهاز المخابرات الوطنيبسم الله الرحمن الرحيم﴿وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِأَعْدَائِكُمْ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ وَلِيًّا وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ نَصِيرًا﴾صدق الله العلي العظيمتمكّن جهاز المخابرات الوطني وبجهد استثنائي نوعي عابر للحدود وبإشراف مجلس القضاء الاعلى من اعتقال شبكة… pic.twitter.com/zvAYAgtJl2
— جهاز المخابرات الوطني العراقي (@INIS_IQ) September 1, 2025
Earlier, Iraq’s Military Intelligence Directorate arrested a woman in Saladin province, accused of distributing stipends to ISIS fighters and their families.
ISIS funded its operations through oil smuggling, extortion, taxation, ransom, antiquities trafficking, weapons and human smuggling, and foreign donations, and while it has lost much of its territory, its sleeper cells still rely on extortion and smuggling to sustain themselves.
