Collaboration With ISIL

Collaboration with the Islamic State refers to the cooperation and assistance given by governments, non-state actors, and private individuals to the Islamic State (IS) during the Syrian Civil War, Iraqi Civil War, and Libyan Civil War.

Allegations of state support

Israel

The Syrian government and Iranian officials have accused Israel and the United States government of supporting ISIS by attacking Hezbollah and the Syrian Arab Army as well as arming and giving medical attention to the Islamic State. Israel has strenuously denied accusations of providing arms and medical support to Islamic State fighters.

Syria

During the ongoing Syrian Civil War, President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian government have been accused by activists of collusion with ISIL.

Many Islamist prisoners were released from Syrian prisons during the Arab Spring protests in 2011, which many authors have suggested a indicated strategic attempt to strengthen jihadist factions over other rebels, and eventually contributed to forging ISIL.

The Syrian government has reportedly paid for the protection of oil pipelines and importation of oil from Al-Nusra after Al-Nusra’s capture of two major oil pipelines in Banias and Latakia. and jointly ran a gas plant in Tabqah using intermediates. The facility supplied electricity to government-held areas, while sources claim government-run power plants supplied Al-Nusra held areas. A report in 2015 suggested that ISIL kept gas flowing to Assad regime-controlled power stations. Furthermore, ISIL allowed grain to pass from Rojava to government-controlled areas at the cost of a 25% levy. In 2017, US and European officials said that oil sales to the Syrian government were ISIL's largest source of revenue.

An unpublished IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center database analysis showed that only 6% of Syrian government forces attacks were targeted at ISIL from January to November 2014, while in the same period only 13% of all ISIL attacks targeted government forces.

The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has stated that the Syrian government has operatives inside ISIL, as has the leadership of Ahrar ash-Sham.

In 2015, the United States embassy in Syria stated that the Syrian government was "making air-strikes in support" of an ISIL advance on Syrian opposition positions north of Aleppo. The president of the Syrian National Coalition, Khaled Koja, accused Assad of acting "as an air force for SIL, with the Defence Minister of the SNC Salim Idris stating that approximately 180 Syrian government officers were serving in ISIL and coordinating the group's attacks with the Syrian Army.

In April 2017 report by UK information provider IHS Markit stated that the Islamic State fought Syrian government forces more than any other opponent between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017. According to the report, "43 percent of all Islamic State fighting in Syria was directed against President Assad's forces, 17 against the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the remaining 40 percent involved fighting rival Sunni opposition groups".

Turkey

The Turkish government has been criticised for allowing ISIL to use Turkish territory for logistics and channelling recruits. It has also been accused of selling arms and intelligence to ISIL, as part of its campaign against the People's Protection Units (YPG). That ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's Syrian hideout was found just a few kilometers away from Turkey also raised suspicions whether Turkey was doing enough against ISIL. Iraqi intelligence officers also claimed that they have observed several journeys by relatives of Al Baghdadi between Syria and Turkey. Turkey denies the allegations of assisting ISIL, pointing to multiple terrorist attacks ISIL has committed against civilians in Turkey, as well as multiple military confrontations between ISIL and the Turkish government. The Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq similarly deny the claim that Turkey is providing aid to ISIL. According to an intelligence adviser quoted by Seymour Hersh, a "highly classified assessment" carried out by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2013 concluded that Turkey had effectively transformed the secret U.S. arms program in support of moderate rebels, who no longer existed, into an indiscriminate program to provide technical and logistical support for al-Nusra Front and ISIL.

Saudi Arabia

In June 2014, former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused the government of Saudi Arabia of funding ISIL. The Saudi Arabian government rejected the claims.

Some media outlets, such as NBC, the BBC
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