AL-HASAKAH/RAQQA, Syria — A man being led by security guards shuffles into an interrogation cell in a military prison in the Kurdish-administered city of Hasakah in northeastern Syria. His hands are cuffed, and his head is shrouded in a black hood. He was arrested at his home in the city of Raqqa and brought here on Oct. 2 on charges of membership in the Islamic State (IS).

The guards escorting him remove the hood. He has ruddy cheeks, thick brown hair and a beard. Ahmed (a pseudonym, as prison authorities would not let him reveal his real name) sat down for an interview with Al-Monitor on a recent afternoon and described why he joined IS more than two years after the jihadis lost Baghouz — the last patch of territory in their collapsed caliphate — to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in March 2019. “I did it for the money,” the 24-year-old father of three said. “Because of the drought, my farm collapsed. I had a lot of debts.”

Ahmed’s profile is typical, according to the Kurdish official who is in charge of running the maximum-security prison where an attempted escape by IS inmates was foiled just days after the interview. “They are paying people to join them, paying thousands of dollars,” the official, who asked not to be identified, told Al-Monitor. Some 50 jihadis being held at the prison were captured this year, the official said. All had joined for money.

Syria has been hit by its worst drought in 70 years, and farming is one of the main sources of income in northeast Syria where most of the country’s crops are grown. Coming on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, the collapse of Syria’s national currency and international sanctions on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the drought has further impoverished millions of people, leading some like Ahmed to join IS in order to make ends meet. A far greater number risk their lives as they try to flee the country to Europe illegally.