Middle east events and news

Terrorists Have Been Using Bitcoin For Four Years, So What’s The Surprise?
As the value of Bitcoin has reached new highs, there has been a major increase in attention to it, including news articles and TV specials – along with concern from governments worldwide that terrorist groups are using digital wallets to send and receive funds in Bitcoin, the decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created in 2009. With ISIS’s physical caliphate crumbling along with its own once-heralded economy made up of its own currency and banks, utilizing Bitcoin as a backup financial plan is now in play.
The Islamic State’s Struggle To Prevent Desertion And Win Back Those Who Have Left
Faced with enormous pressure from the global coalition, and following its defeats on the battlefield, recently numerous Islamic State (ISIS) fighters who operated in Syria and Iraq have deserted. Some have returned to their families in Syria and Iraq. Others, from countries outside the Middle East, have either left for other countries in the region or returned home. At first taking an aggressive stance on this phenomenon, ISIS made various approaches to those who have left and appealed to them to return.(by memri org.)