UN creates plan to wipe out ISIS by destroying its finances

SAVAGE: The UN wants to wipe out ISIS' funding

The plan has been devised to ruin revenue ISIS gains from oil and antiquities sales, ransom payments and other depraved criminal activities.

ISIS - also known as Daesh - is already subject to UN sanctions under resolutions dealing with al-Qaeda.

The resolution, supported by the US and Russia, elevates the barbaric death cult to the same level as al-Qaeda.

It calls for a financial freeze on ISIS, along with a travel ban and arms embargo.

US treasury secretary Jacob Lew branded the savage terror group "a challenging financial target" because unlike other organisations it gets a relatively small share of its funding from donors abroad.

ISIS controls a large swath of Syria and Iraq, including oil and gas fields, though bombing campaigns by the US-led coalition and ground forces have enabled Iraq to regain some territory.

France's Finance Minister Michel Sapin told the Security Council that no country is safe from ISIS attacks - with the recent atrocities in Paris and California.

While ministers from the 15 council nations will be meeting in New York on Friday to discuss a political solution to the Syrian civil war, he said every country has to play a part in stemming the flow of money to extremist groups which are fuelling conflicts.

He said: ”What sets Daesh apart and makes it so powerful is the fact that it has amassed a sizeable war chest by a variety of means including smuggling, extortion and trafficking.

"There is no crime that Daesh will not commit to finance itself."

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BRUTES: ISIS makes cash by holding hostages to ransom

Lew warned ISIS generates funds from economic activity and the resources in territory under its control and its financing "has evolved from seizing territory and looting bank vaults to leveraging more renewable revenue streams."

He said: "ISIL [ISIS] has reaped an estimated $500 million from black market oil and millions more from the people it brutalises and extorts."

Chancellor George Osborne hailed the "historic" agreement.

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PRAISE: George Osborne hailed the deal

Mr Osborne, who represented the UK at the talks, described it as a "historic moment… to cut off Daesh financing".

He said: ”We'll choke off Daesh trade in oil, end extortion, stop sales of historic artefacts and take the fight to middlemen who trade in currency of evil.

"The message from UN to Daesh is clear - the buck stops here."