US slaps sanctions on 12 ‘terrorist’ group supporters

US slaps sanctions on 12 ‘terrorist’ group supporters
The United States on Wednesday issued financial
sanctions against 11 individuals and a foreign entity it
designated as “global terrorists”, vowing to disrupt the
finances of the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.
The sanctions would see any US assets belonging to those
affected frozen, while any transactions with US persons
would be prohibited.
Those listed worked with a range of organizations -– Al-
Qaeda and its affiliates; the Islamic State group; Al-Nusrah
Front; and Jemaah Islamiyah — “to send financial and
material support, and foreign terrorist fighters to Syria and
elsewhere,” the US Treasury Department said.
The actions complement the United Nations Security
Council’s adoption of a resolution focused on preventing
and disrupting the financial activities of foreign jihadists
and thwarting their efforts to travel across borders, the
Treasury said.
President Barack Obama, addressing the UN General
Assembly on Wednesday, called on the world to join the
US-led coalition to defeat jihadists in Iraq and Syria,
branding them terrorists engaged in a “network of death.”
Obama chaired a special UN Security Council meeting
which passed a resolution requiring all countries to adopt
laws that would make it a crime for their nationals to join
groups such as Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front.
The resolution falls under Chapter 7 of the UN charter,
which means the measures could be enforced by
economic sanctions or military force.
“Today’s broadly scoped designations will disrupt efforts
by ISIL, Al-Nusrah Front, Al-Qaeda, and Jemaah Islamiyah
to raise, transport, and access funds that facilitate foreign
terrorist fighters,” said David Cohen, the Treasury’s under
secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, referring
to the Islamic State group by one its popular acronyms.
“These steps, taken the same day as the adoption of a
new United Nations Security Council Resolution, affirm the
commitment of the United States and our partners to
degrade and destroy terrorist access to financing.”
- Sanctions targets -
The new US sanctions target two people named as
facilitators of the Islamic State (IS) group: Syria-based
Georgian national Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili
and Tariq Bin-Al-Tahar Bin Al Falih Al-Awni Al-Harzi, a
Tunisia-born IS official operating in Syria.
Among the other individuals targeted were six people
named for their support of Al-Nusra front, another Islamic
rebel group operating in Syria, and Al-Qaeda and its
affiliates.