Paying ISIS to Keep a Cement Plant Running: How a Major French Company Financed One of the World's Most Brutal Terrorist Groups

On May 23, 2026, families of victims of ISIS attacks and U.S. military personnel killed or wounded in the fight against the terrorist group demanded access to nearly $778 million paid by French cement giant Lafarge under its 2022 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Just three days earlier, on May 20, legal experts at Global Rights Compliance argued that the Lafarge case could become a defining precedent for multinational corporations operating in conflict zones, warning that companies may increasingly face criminal liability for maintaining business relationships with armed groups during wartime. Human rights organizations have also continued to raise concerns about two unresolved aspects of the scandal: the lack of compensation for former Syrian employees who allegedly faced kidnappings, shelling, and other dangers while working at Lafarge's Syrian plant, and an ongoing French investigation into whether the company's dealings with ISIS could amount to complicity in crimes against humanity.

These developments have renewed attention to one of the most controversial corporate scandals of the Syrian civil war. Nearly ten years have passed since the French newspaper Le Monde first revealed that Lafarge, which later merged with Swiss-based Holcim, had paid millions of dollars to ISIS and other armed groups in Syria to keep its cement plant operating. The revelations triggered an international scandal by exposing how far a major multinational corporation was willing to go to protect its commercial interests in a war zone, including entering into financial arrangements with terrorist organizations. The affair also became a major embarrassment for France, where legal proceedings related to the case continue to this day.

A historic turning point came on April 13, 2026, when a Paris court found Lafarge guilty of financing terrorist organizations in Syria during the country's civil war. It was the first time in French history that a corporation had been held criminally liable for supporting terrorism. The court concluded that between 2013 and 2014 the company paid approximately $6.5 million to armed groups, including ISIS, in order to keep its cement plant in Jalabiya, northern Syria, operating. Several former executives and intermediaries, including former CEO Bruno Lafont, received prison sentences, while the company was fined for financing terrorism and violating sanctions imposed on Syria. The judges found that Lafarge's management knew who it was dealing with and consciously chose to continue making payments in order to preserve its business interests. "It is perfectly clear to the court that the sole purpose of financing the terrorist organization was to maintain the operation of the Syrian plant for economic reasons... These payments constituted a genuine commercial partnership with the Islamic State," presiding judge Isabelle Prévost-Desprez stated.

The April ruling was not the first legal blow suffered by the company. In 2022, Lafarge admitted in the United States that its Syrian subsidiary had paid approximately $6 million to ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra between 2013 and 2014 in order to keep the cement plant operating and ensure the movement of employees, suppliers, and goods through territory controlled by militants. The company also admitted purchasing raw materials from suppliers linked to ISIS. As part of a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Lafarge agreed to pay approximately $778 million in penalties and forfeitures.

Yet the legal consequences of the scandal may still be far from over. French authorities continue to investigate a separate case concerning allegations of complicity in crimes against humanity. According to prosecutors and human rights organizations, Lafarge maintained business relations with ISIS even after the group had become notorious for mass killings, torture, executions, kidnappings, and persecution of civilians. Organizations such as Sherpa and ECCHR argue that the April terrorism-financing conviction may be only the first chapter of the company's legal troubles and continue to push for a full trial on crimes-against-humanity charges.

The unresolved issue of former Syrian employees has generated additional controversy. Human rights advocates have criticized the fact that many workers who remained at the plant during the conflict and were allegedly exposed to serious risks have not received compensation. Employees reportedly had to pass through checkpoints controlled by armed groups and faced threats of kidnapping, shelling, and violence. Some were allegedly abducted or subjected to abuse. Critics argue that the court's terrorism-financing ruling failed to adequately address the suffering experienced by these workers.

Lafarge acquired the Jalabiya cement plant in northern Syria in 2008 for approximately €680 million and launched operations in 2010, shortly before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war the following year. While many multinational corporations withdrew from Syria in 2012, Lafarge evacuated only its foreign staff, leaving Syrian employees at the site until September 2014, when ISIS ultimately seized the facility.

The atrocities committed by ISIS in Syria did not prevent Lafarge from maintaining its relationship with the group, but it soon became clear that ISIS posed a threat far beyond the Middle East. During the April 2026 trial, Judge Prévost-Desprez emphasized that the company's payments had strengthened organizations responsible for deadly attacks in Syria and abroad, including in France. ISIS carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in French history in November 2015, targeting the Bataclan concert hall, the Stade de France stadium, restaurants, and cafés in Paris. The attacks killed 130 people and injured more than 350. Against this backdrop, the revelation that one of France's most prominent industrial companies had entered into financial arrangements with one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations generated enormous public outrage.

The scandal became even more politically sensitive after the French newspaper Libération reported in 2021 that French intelligence services had allegedly been aware of Lafarge's payments to ISIS and other armed groups. According to another Libération investigation, Jean-Claude Veillard, Lafarge's security director, met French intelligence officials at least 33 times between 2012 and 2014. He claimed that the company regularly provided information about conditions in northern Syria and the activities of armed groups. During the 2025-2026 trial, former Lafarge executive Christian Herrault also testified that he had informed the French ambassador to Syria about the company's contacts and payments to ISIS, although the court neither confirmed nor disproved those claims.

Holcim, the Swiss company that merged with Lafarge in 2015, has sought to distance itself from the Syrian scandal and its legal consequences. The company insists that it was unaware of the payments to ISIS and that responsibility lies with Lafarge's former management. Human rights groups remain skeptical of attempts to completely separate Holcim from the affair. "It is difficult to believe that Holcim's leadership was unaware that the company it planned to merge with was operating a facility in Syria throughout the civil war. The issue was undoubtedly discussed, but we simply do not know more than that," Anna Kiefer of the French association Sherpa stated in January.

The Lafarge affair has become one of the most significant corporate accountability cases in modern history. It demonstrated that some multinational corporations are willing to overlook the actions of terrorist organizations when major financial interests are at stake. Yet the recent conviction, ongoing investigations, and growing demands from victims and former employees suggest that the consequences of those decisions are still unfolding — and may continue to shape how businesses operate in conflict zones for years to come.

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