1. List the Islamic State’s funding sources.

2. For what purposes does ISIS use the money?

3. How many oil refineries, oil installations and oil fields did the U.S. hit in these first strikes with our Arab allies in eastern Syria?

4. a) What does US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power give as the reason for U.S. strikes in Syria?
b) Does this sound like a government determined to destroy ISIS? What other reason should Ambassador Power be giving for our strikes in Syria?

5. a) How many countries are in the Arab League?
b) According to President Obama and the Pentagon, five countries — Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates — joined the United States in Wednesday night’s airstrikes in Syria. Obama says the coalition shows that “people and governments in the Middle East are rejecting ISIL and standing up [for] peace and security.”
Do you agree with this assertion? Explain your answer.
Ask a parent the same question.

6. Turkey borders both Iraq and Syria. It is also a member of NATO.
a) What is the role of NATO? (See “Background” for the answer.)
b) What type of support should Turkey give the U.S. in our attempts to “decimate” ISIS?

7. CNN reported Thursday:

The United States and its allies are steeling themselves for what an American defense official described Thursday as a years-long fight against the so-called Islamic State. “I think we are in this for a matter of years," the Pentagon spokesman, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, told CNN Thursday. "... We are steeling ourselves for that period of time."

U.S.-led airstrikes hit locations overnight in a remote area of eastern Syria where ISIS has been using mobile refineries to produce oil that brings in up to $2 million a day for the group.

The U.S. military was still assessing the damage to the refineries by the airstrikes, Kirby said. The attacks are focused on the "infrastructure around the refineries," meaning the ability of ISIS to produce oil, he said.

Even so, there are questions about just how much impact the destruction of the refineries will have on ISIS, which analysts have said has access to billions of dollars. "Even if we stop their oil flow today, they still have about a billion dollars in the bank," retired U.S. Army Col. Peter Mansoor said.

"They seized about a third of a billion dollars from the central bank of Mosul (Iraq)." On top of that, he added, ISIS has garnered millions of dollars in ransoms from European governments for hostages and have traded much of their oil.

For now, the United States is focused on the refineries, according to Kirby. But he acknowledged there are "other economic levers the international community is going to have to pull" to cut off all funding to ISIS.

Ask a parent - is there a different/stronger policy/strategy we could pursue to destroy ISIS more than the action we are taking now? Explain your answer.