How a businessman struck a deal with Islamic State to help Assad feed Syrians

A man holds wheat grains inside a wheat storage in Qamishli, Syria September 18, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said

RAQQA/DUBAI (Reuters) - While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was accusing the West of turning a blind eye to Islamic State smuggling, a member of his parliament was quietly doing business with the group, farmers and administrators in the militants' former stronghold said.

The arrangement helped the Syrian government to feed areas still under its control after Islamic State took over the northeastern wheat-growing region during the six-year-old civil war, they said.