France: Is Lafarge Funding ISIS in Syria?

French and world cement giant Lafarge paid the Islamic State group (IS) in Syria to maintain its business, French daily Le Monde revealed on Tuesday.

Investigations conducted by the French daily indicate that the French company which acquired the Jalabiya cement works, located at some 150 Km northeast of Aleppo, in 2007 entered into a deal with IS through intermediaries to ensure that the group does not attack the business.

The deal reportedly helped the company to keep its plant running over the 2013-2014 period at the time the terrorist group’s conquests in Syria were in full swing.

Le Monde claims to have evidence that Lafarge struck a deal with the terror group to be able to continue production until September 19. The deal also allowed workers at the production site to have free passage through IS checkpoints.

In what it claims to be another case of deals between the French company and the militant group, Le Monde revealed that Lafarge “bought licenses from and paid taxes to Islamic State middle-men and oil traders to secure free circulation of its goods”.

IS took over the production site in September 2014 forcing the company to leave.

Kurdish militia YPG backed by the US and allies overran the site the following year. The operation site has been turned into a military base for the western coalition forces combatting the jihadists.