ISIS Steals Iraq State Employee Salaries

Militants from the self-proclaimed Islamic State are siphoning millions of dollars each month from the Iraqi government by taking a portion of salaries paid to employees in ISIS-controlled areas such as Mosul, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The Iraqi government continues to pay government employees in those areas in order to maintain local support, however, ISIS is intercepting the money to fund operations, U.S. officials say. The U.S. also provides Baghdad with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual support, and it’s unclear if some of that cash is used toward government salaries. U.S. and Iraqi officials are considering whether to cut off the employee payroll in those areas and lose support.