Special to WorldTribune.com
Leaflets dropped by the U.S. in Syria and Iraq warned drivers of tankers carrying Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) oil to “leave the trucks and flee” as air strikes on the tankers were imminent.
“Warning. Airstrikes are coming, oil trucks will be destroyed,” read one leaflet. “Get away from your oil trucks immediately. Do not risk your life.”
The Pentagon released the text of the leaflets in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the blog War is Boring.
One leaflet showed an image of a U.S. fighter jet flying low toward two oil tankers, with the drivers running away. Another included a map of the region and marked the oil fields in eastern Syria.
“Oil trucks are being destroyed because buying this oil is the lifeblood of Daesh (ISIL). Leave the trucks and flee,” read another leaflet.
In November, U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts and AC-130 gunships destroyed hundreds of ISIL’s oil tankers in northern Iraq and eastern Syria. At that time, ISIL was taking in an estimated $1.4 million a day from selling oil on the black market.
In addition to air dropping the leaflets, the Pentagon said U.S.-led coalition planes conducted low-level “show of force” flights over some oil-rich regions under ISIL’s control.
Text of explainer-warning leaflets to ISIL tanker drivers released added by Editor One on
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