Vocativ reports: ISIS fighters aren’t getting any year-end pay raises this January. In fact, in response to mounting military and economic pressure across Syria and Iraq, the terror group is slashing salaries, newly leaked ISIS documents show.

The administrative records reveal that ISIS leaders in Raqqa, the group’s de-facto capital in Syria, reduced the monthly salaries of all fighters by half sometime around November or December of last year, just as the U.S. began to dramatically increase its airstrikes against ISIS-held oil fields and other financial targets.

“On account of the exceptional circumstances the Islamic State is facing, it has been decided to reduce the salaries that are paid to all mujahideen by half,” reads the official notice, which was translated and first published by Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, an ISIS expert and fellow at the Middle East Forum. “It is not allowed for anyone to be exempted from this decision, whatever his position.” [Continue reading…]