article_snippet.sent: During one meeting in which One former Syrian rebel who became an ISIS regional commander dared to disagree with fellow commanders at an ISIS' meeting, Hamza Hamza was placed under arrest on the orders of a masked man who had sat silently and almost unnoticed at the side of the room, listening and taking notes.
article_snippet.sent: Although the enigmatic commander's real name was never revealed to Hamza, Hamza said that Hamza later discovered that Hamza had been an intelligence officer for Saddam Hussein's army before joining ISIS.
article_snippet.sent: The same went for the other ISIS' commanders Hamza met, who either used code names or no names at all in the hope of concealing the other ISIS commanders Hamza past as members of Saddam Hussein's army.
article_snippet.sent: As well as the other ISIS commanders Hamza extensive military expertise, another key element of the other ISIS commanders
article_snippet.sent: Hamza appointments has been the fact the ex-Baathists have extensive contacts among oil smugglers thanks to Saddam Hussein's's efforts to avoid international sanctions in the 1990s.
article_snippet.sent: Crucially, oil smuggling is considered the most lucrative aspect of ISIS' £2 billion-a-year income.