The Islamic State is not having a good time lately, to say the least. They’re seeing many avenues of funding and communication being shut down before their very eyes. On the funding side, governments are strategically freezing accounts of known terrorists, which halts operations in their tracks. The loss of covert communication methods is equally damaging to the cause with social media platforms like Twitter shutting down ISIS-affiliated accounts.
If these humiliations weren’t enough to destroy morale, the group finds themselves randomly shooting into the air to ward off the “Daesh Killer,” who has been making headlines while casually picking off high-ranking ISIS members. The terrorists feel terrorized, and this new report won’t help the Islamic State feel at ease. According to The Daily Express, a British Special Air Service (SAS) sniper took out an ISIS commander in Syria in a fairly ironic way. The commander was teaching recruits how to decapitate enemies (with “a cutting motion”) when the bullet struck. His head exploded, and more than twenty ISIS neophytes freaked out and fled the scene, thereby abandoning the cause:
The sniper, operating in northern Syria, used a Dan .338 rifle with ammo that “tumbles” which it hits a target – inflicting a huge wound. He had to aim more than a foot wide of the mark to adjust for wind conditions, but hit his target first time.
One military insider said: “One minute he was standing there and the next his head had exploded. The commander remained standing upright for a couple of seconds before collapsing and that’s when panic set in. We later heard most of the recruits deserted. We got rid of 21 terrorists with one bullet.”
It only took one bullet to “dash” the allegiance of more than twenty terrorists? That’s one heck of a cost-effective method. Of course, the operation wasn’t entirely simple. A team of eight snipers infiltrated a jihadi compound and hid for 12 hours to pull off this kill. In addition, twelve other men stood as a backup team, but everything went off as planned.
Back to the money side of things — a new report from the New York Post reveals how the extremist group is so low on funds that they’re using black market American cash. Things are so bad that ISIS is even accepting $500 to release detainees, and (even worse) ISIS salaries have been slashed in half (or less) while perks like free snacks and energy drinks have disappeared. Of course, part of the money issue is due to coalition airstrikes taking out ISIS cash centers. This January video shows the money flying.
(Via Daily Express & Page Six)