ISIS survivors are conducting economic warfare against the Kurds by burning their crops.

Crops burning in Syria. ABC News.

ISIS survivors are conducting economic warfare against the Kurds in Northern Syria by burning their crops. ABC News (Australia). Local farmers were hoping for bumper crops after years of war and drought but ISIS has begun burning their fields. The Kurds have already lost $50 million worth of crops including barley and wheat. Since may 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) of crops have been damaged or destroyed by attacks, some of which have been claimed by ISIS. 14 people have died in theses attacks while trying to fight the flames. Most of the crops have now been harvested but the ISIS attacks continue. 

My Comment:

We all knew that ISIS would continue to launch attacks even after their defeat but this was somewhat unexpected, for me at least. Generally, guerrilla campaigns like the one ISIS is conducting now that their conventional forces have been destroyed, don't strike economic targets like this. However, ISIS has always been an innovative group. 

Burning crops have an obvious impact on the people that they target. It's been used in warfare for a very long time. Not only are you causing some major economic damage you can starve out the civilian population as well. The deaths and injuries caused by fighting the fires are just a bonus. 

Of course the new tactic shows how far ISIS has fallen as a terror group. They used to control a huge swath of Syria but now they are reduced to attacks on crops. They haven't launched any major terror attacks since the Easter Sri Lanka attacks and they control very little territory. They are a shadow of their old self and this new tactic shows just how much they have failed. 

This tactic is a concerning one. Arson has always been a viable terror tactic but a largely unknown one. However the threat is very real and one that doesn't necessary have to target crops. Many buildings are vulnerable and even forests could be targets. Natural or accidental fires kill thousands of people and cause millions of dollars. If someone was so inclined they could cause quite a bit of damage.

America seems especially vulnerable to crop attacks. We are the world's breadbasket and there are millions of acres of undefended crops that would be very easy to attack. Given how damaged US crops are this season due to massive flooding throughout the Midwest, there is a major opportunity for economic damage for ISIS. 

Thankfully, ISIS is no longer the force they once were. ISIS has no core group of terrorists to launch major terror attacks. They still have "lone wolf" people inspired by their propaganda but they are usually pretty incompetent. ISIS also has fallen into the al-Qaeda problem where they go for huge spectacular attacks instead of easy to pull off ones and it has really hurt their ability to actually accomplish anything. Though local forces in Syria might be able to pull off crop attacks in Syria, they aren't likely to be able to do so in the United States.