The White House has imposed sanctions on 21 people and 3 entities funding terrorism, freezing assets and barring them from any American financial dealings in an effort “to degrade and destroy terrorist access to financing.”
“Today’s broadly scoped designations will disrupt efforts by
ISIL, al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah to raise,
transport and access funds that facilitate foreign terrorist
fighters,” David Cohen, the Treasury undersecretary for
terrorism financing said in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement of the sanctions were a follow up to airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq as
well s the United Nations Security Council’s adoption of
resolution to preemptively nip in the bud financial activities
and mobility of terrorists believed to be aiding efforts in the
Middle East, Europe, and North Africa.
The US Treasury Department expanded the list created back in 2001 by
former President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11
attacks.
Among the newly added targets are Georgian national Tarkhan
Tayumurazovich Batirashvili who goes by the name ‘Omar the
Chechen’ and is believed to be a top Islamic State military
commander currently living in Syria who used to oversee a prison
facility near ISIS-controlled Raqqah where terrorists reportedly
detain dozens of captured foreign hostages, many journalists.
Tariq bin al-Tahar bin al-Falih al-’Awni al-Harzi, or Al Harzi
for short, is referred to the US Treasury as the “emir of suicide
bombers”, who is believed to be one of the founding members of
the Islamic State terrorist group. The Treasury believes he
helped raise $2 million in funds from Qatar as well as recruited
and trained foreign fighters.
READ MORE: ISIS profits from oil, theft, human
trafficking exceed $3mn a day – report
The sanctions list already includes hundreds of individuals and
companies believed to be sponsoring terrorist organizations
worldwide. However, ISIS and other terrorist organization accrue
most of their money from more illicit activities such as
extortion payments, ransom from kidnapped hostages, and any kind
of theft from the areas taken by IS, such as black-market oil.
Therefore a ban on international banking may not block the cash
flow to people funding and diffusing terrorism.
Article source: http://rt.com/business/190516-us-counter-terrorism-sanctions-isis/
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