A leading expert on Syria told FRANCE 24 that the recent release of several Western hostages held by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) highlights the jihadist group’s difficulties in securing funding from international donors, reports FRANCE 24.
Four French reporters widely believed to have been held hostage by ISIL since June 2013 were freed on Saturday, less than three weeks after the liberation of two Spanish journalists taken hostage by the same group.
According to Syria specialist Fabrice Balanche, who heads the Research Group on Mediterranean and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Lyon, the series of releases reveals ISIL’s difficulties in getting financial support from foreign sources amid ongoing fighting between rebel groups in Syria.
"ISIL is not getting international financial support anymore – unlike other rebel groups – so they have to use their hostages", Balanche told FRANCE 24.
"These jihadists see hostages as a way to get ransoms or obtain the release of ISIL members seized by other rebel groups. Even if the French state didn’t directly pay a ransom, it’s possible that Qatar acted as an intermediary", he added.
ISIL is a cross-border (Iraq and Syria) group disowned by al Qaeda's leadership that has established bases in areas captured from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Its uncompromising stance and initial military successes attracted large numbers of foreign Islamist fighters. Indeed, the reporters released on Saturday said that some of their captors spoke French.
ISIL is now considered to be the most radical jihadist group in Syria. Other rebel groups – including the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra front – have accused ISIL members of carrying out mass executions and kidnapping scores of people.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.