The UNSC has unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at disrupting revenues that Islamic State receives from oil and antiquities sales, ransom payments and other criminal activities. ISIS, also known as ISIL and Daesh, is already subject to UN sanctions under resolutions dealing with al-Qaida. The resolution, sponsored by the US and Russia, elevates ISIS to the same level as al-Qaida, reflecting its growing threat and split from the terror network behind the 9/11 attacks.

ISIS controls a large swath of Syria and Iraq, including oil and gas fields, though bombing campaigns by the US-led coalition and ground forces have enabled Iraq to regain some territory. ISIS generates funds from economic activity and the resources in territory under its control and its financing “has evolved from seizing territory and looting bank vaults to leveraging more renewable revenue streams”. So far ISIS has reaped an estimated $500m from black market oil and millions more from the people it brutalises and extorts.

The US-led coalition has been attacking Isis’s entire oil supply chain from oilfields and refineries to destroying nearly 400 of its tanker trucks in the past month. The resolution stresses that “any individual, group, undertaking, or entity supporting ISIL or al-Qaida” is subject to UN sanctions, including an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

The resolution urges countries to share information about extremist groups and calls for a report within 120 days on what every country is doing to tackle the financing of Isis and al-Qaida.