<p>Russian intelligence claims that Turkey is cooperating with ISIS in the terrorist group&rsquo;s profitable oil smuggling operation. Russian intelligence captured footage just a few days ago showing nearly 12,000 oil tankers at the Iraq-Turkey border making their way into Turkey. The video also shows the convoy as it is attacked via air strike. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The [aerial] imagery was made in the vicinity of Zakho (a city in Iraqi Kurdistan), there were 11,775 tankers and trucks on both sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border. As many as 4,530 of them were on the territory of Turkey and 7,245 in Iraq,&rdquo; says Lt. Gen Sergey Rudskoy. ;</p>
<p>Russia&rsquo;s claim has been disputed, especially by Iraqi Kurds who maintain the oil tankers contained Kurdish oil. &ldquo;Turkey closed border with Iraq during the past few days due to war with Kurdish militants, causing the long lines of oil tankers,&rdquo; explains Kifah Mahmoud, an adviser to President Barzani of Kurdistan. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It must be noted that oil from both Iraq and Syria come through this [Zakho] checkpoint,&rdquo; suggests Rudskoy, hinting that Russia doubts its own claim. Indeed, Zakho is located firmly within Kurdish territory and it seems unbelievable that such a huge convoy of ISIS oil could slip past Kurdistan&rsquo;s Peshmerga forces. ;</p>
<p>However, Russia added that the oil tankers seemed to be coming from Deiz-ez-Zour, a town in Syrian known to be an ISIS stronghold. It appeared as if the convoy was traversing what locals know as the &#8220;eastern route&#8221; &ndash; a path that is commonly used by ISIS to smuggle oil from Syria to Turkey.</p>
<p>The caliphate&rsquo;s oil smuggling program is running far less smoothly in the wake of a Special Forces raid against Abu Sayyaf (a former oil chief) that revealed vital information to ISIS enemies. Coalition airstrikes have demolished much of the terrorist organization&rsquo;s logistical ability to produce oil and the resulting shortage has ;caused a spike in the price of oil within ISIS territories. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The northern and western routes which we previously revealed continue to be used. In order to avoid losses to Russian aviation, the terrorists move [the oil convoys] mainly at night. Moreover, their tanker trucks are disguised as ordinary lorries, and move in small columns of several dozen vehicles at a time,&rdquo; says Rudskoy. ;</p>
<p>Russia&rsquo;s accusation against Turkey comes in the middle of feud between the two countries that began when a Russian plane was shot down by a Turkish missile. President Recep Tayyip of Turkey has vowed to resign if Russia can somehow prove his country to be involved in the ISIS oil smuggling operation. ;</p>
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