A/HRC/31/68 132. In Darayya, under continuous government siege for the past three years, an economy previously based on agriculture and furniture manufacturing has been all but depleted. In Tadmur, the town abutting the ruins of Palmyra, tourism and the sale of handicrafts used to serve as key income-generating activities. The war and the fall of Palmyra to ISIS in May 2015 resulted in the collapse of the city’s economy. The subsequent destruction by ISIS of World Heritage sites reduces the region’s economic prospects. According to accounts by some residents, young men had joined ISIS primarily to generate income. 133. In other areas held by ISIS, such as Ar Raqqah, militants have forced women to relinquish their jobs, which has had a severe economic impact on them and their families. Female doctors, nurses, teachers and civil servants have described how they had been forced to stop working in order to observe the rigid directives issues by ISIS. 134. Damage to industrial and economic infrastructure varies widely among areas under the control of the Government and those controlled by anti-government armed groups or terrorist groups. As conflict enveloped Aleppo city, the former national industrial and financial centre suffered immensely. Few, if any, of its former textile and food-processing plants still function. Government-held areas countrywide tend to benefit from relative security, consequently the economic situation in them has been less affected overall. Many businesses and factories in areas held by the opposition have been destroyed, owing in large part to intensive and indiscriminate aerial bombardments by pro-government forces. 135. While some industrial infrastructure, including factories in Damascus, remains intact and operational, the Damascene economy has deteriorated owing to inflation and the depreciation of the local currency. Although goods, including basic necessities, medicines and clothes are available for purchase, prices have risen to such an extent that they have become inaccessible to the vast majority of the city’s inhabitants. Countless other cities, towns and villages countrywide have suffered a similar collapse in their local economies. VI. Clandestine marketplaces 136. As influence over an area dictates who controls the natural resources there, the warring parties – as well as local communities and opportunistic individuals – have profited from the instability caused by the ongoing conflict. 137. Agreements over control of resources have strengthened the dominance of ISIS in Dayr az-Zawr. Through deals with local communities on the management of production of oil and gas, ISIS has built trust, entrenching its power and authority. The terrorist group developed crude oil operations in Dayr az-Zawr when it seized oil fields in 2014. While production is not at pre-war levels and the oil fields and distribution centres held by ISIS have been adversely affected by the air strikes conducted by the international coalition and pro-government forces, ISIS still benefits from sales to local clients that refine the oil and sell it across front lines and borders. Major oil fields under the control of ISIS include AlOmar and Tanak. 138. Throughout the conflict, World Heritage and archaeological sites have been looted by individuals, some of whom are affiliated to warring factions. ISIS has systematically engaged in theft and trafficking in cultural property, and has specialists in its ranks to identify and evaluate such property. 139. In the month preceding the takeover of Tadmur by ISIS, government forces transferred hundreds of ancient artefacts to safe locations. Despite these efforts, the illicit excavation of invaluable cultural property continued. Artefacts have been smuggled out and sold on the black market. ISIS further levies a tax on smugglers who transport items through the territory it holds. 19