About the speaker:

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a research fellow at the Middle East Forum, a U.S. think-tank, and the Rubin Research Fellow at the Rubin Center of the IDC Herzliya in Israel. He focuses primarily on the Islamic State and other armed factions in the civil wars in Iraq and Syria. In October 2014 he testified before the UK Parliament’s Defence Committee on the Islamic State and the situation in Iraq. Widely quoted in major media outlets including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, he also has a column on the site Jihadology, focusing on archiving unseen Islamic State documents.

Synopsis:

What are the sources of Islamic State (IS) financing? Using a leaked budget from the beginning of 2015 from Deir az-Zor province in Syria, where the richest oil-holdings of IS exist, this talk will trace some of the realities and myths surrounding the group’s finances. Do foreign patrons play any role in financially supporting IS? How much importance does oil actually have in the IS economy? How does IS apportion expenditures? The talk will also assess how the state of finances may have changed since the time of the budget, and implications for policymaking, particularly as regards the crucial issue of whether IS is financially sustainable in the long-run.

Contacts

For invitation enquiries please contact:-

Ms Yvonne Lee
Senior Administrative Executive
Tel: (65) 6790-6489
Fax: (65) 6792-8701
E-mail: [email protected]