Daesh Loses 40% in Funding Thanks to Int'l Efforts - Italian FM Gentiloni

The Daesh funding has suffered a 40-percent decline due to international efforts, Italy's foreign minister said.

ROME (Sputnik) — Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Tuesday that the Daesh funding has seen a 40-percent drop.

"The funding of the IS [Daesh] has decreased by 40 percent, among other things due to [the activities of] the [international] working group, headed by Italy [along with the United States and Saudi Arabia]," Gentiloni said at a session of the Foreign Committee and the Defense Committee of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

He added that at the same time the military activities were insufficient to defeat the jihadist group and the international community needed a broad strategy to curb financing of the group, to stop radicalization of people and to increase investments in culture and social sphere.

Daesh is a jihadist group notorious for its human rights abuses, including multiple kidnappings and killings. In 2014, the group, outlawed in the United States and Russia among others, took large territories in Iraq and Syria and established a caliphate. Affiliated groups operate in North Africa, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Daesh recruits fighters from around the world.