UNITED NATIONS - A United Nations panel has urged the Security Council to encourage all countries to seize oil trucks coming in and out of territory controlled by terrorists  in Iraq and Syria and to impose a global moratorium on the sale of antiquities from the two countries. Both oil and antiquities are thought to be vital sources of financing for the groups that call themselves the Islamic State and the Nusra Front.
The recommendations were made by a panel of experts appointed by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, according to a report published in The New York Times Tuesday. They come two months after the Council sought to muster global support to confront the rise of the Islamic State. A Council resolution, passed in late September, requires all countries to take action to stop the flow of fighters to terrorist organizations like the Islamic State. The Council is to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss the issue. Some of the recommendations would require further Security Council authorization.
The report estimated that the Islamic State earns oil revenues of $846,000 to $1,645,000 a day. Along with urging countries to seize oil trucks, the panel of experts suggested that the Islamic State’s main recruiters and propagandists be added to the list of individuals and entities facing sanctions. It left it to United Nations member states, however, to come up with those names. The panel also said that countries in the region should do more to stop the movement of fighters into Iraq and Syria. In addition, the panel recommended a moratorium on the trading of antiquities from the two nations. ‘Although such a moratorium would not eliminate the criminal market for smuggled antiquities, this ban should disrupt the market for antiquities from the Syrian Arab Republic and build on prior Security Council measures in the case of Iraq, depressing potential’ revenues to the militant groups, the panel said in its report.