in Amharic, a language widely spoken in Ethiopia, in an attempt to attract new recruits there. Besides eulogizing dead fighters and emphasizing ISS' military capabilities, the group's propaganda also employs other common tropes of Islamic State propaganda such as portraying the rebel-held areas as "paradise". Supply, support and allies In its endeavor to build up its military strength, the Islamic State in Somalia is aided by the fact that Puntland's government has only limited control over its hinterland while its military is overstrechted. Peripheral areas are thus mostly ignored by the security forces and instead run by rebellious and infighting tribal militias. As result, local clans (including Mumin's own, the Majeerteen Ali Saleban) are aggrieved by their perceived marginalisation by the government and in some cases ready to support ISS. Such dissatisfied elements are the ones from which ISS receives supplies and recruits new members. There have also been accounts, however, that ISS raids those communities which do not supply it with food and other necessities, and to kidnap children in order to indoctrinate and train them as child soldiers. The group is also known to collect taxes in areas which it controls or at least influences. The group is also directly supported by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Yemen Province, which is known to have sent experts, trainers, money, weapons and other materials to ISS. The United Nations also claimed in November 2017 that ISS receives direct assistance from IS officials in Syria and Iraq. In smuggling fighters and supplies across the Gulf of Aden, ISS works closely with Somali pirates, namely Mohamed Garfanje's Hobyo-Haradhere Piracy Network and another unidentified group that is based in Qandala. These pirates do, however, also supply ISS' rival in Puntland, al-Shabaab, with weapons and other materials. Furthermore, ISS has been supported by "financial operative" Mohamed Mire Ali Yusuf (often simply called Mire Ali) who provided the group with money and supplies through two companies, both located in Bosaso by 2016: Liibaan Trading, a livestock trading business, and Al-Mutafaq Commercial Company. The United States Department of the Treasury designated Mire as terrorist and sanctioned his two businesses in February 2018. Alleged state support According to a New York Times report, Qatar may have financed and directed an Islamic State attack in Puntland on 10 May in order to pressure the United Arab Emirates to end development of a port in