WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and six Gulf countries on Wednesday imposed sanctions on six targets, accusing them of being affiliated with Islamic State, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
The Treasury said the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) – which also include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – blacklisted three entities and an individual in Turkey and Syria.
The Treasury accused money services businesses, which include al Haram Exchange, Tawasul Company, and al-Khalidi Exchange, of having “played a vital role in transferring funds to support Syria-based ISIS fighters and … provided hundreds of thousands of dollars of liquidity to ISIS leadership.”
Abd-al-Rahman ‘Ali Husayn al-Ahmad al-Rawi, selected by ISIS in 2017 to serve as a senior financial facilitator, was also blacklisted, the Treasury said, accusing him of being one of a few that have provided Islamic State “significant financial facilitation” into and out of Syria.
The TFTC also blacklisted Afghanistan-based Nejaat Social Welfare Organization and its director, Sayed Habib Ahmad Khan, accusing the organization of being used as a cover company to support the activities of the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K).
“The TFTC has brought the U.S. and its Gulf partners closer together to confront shared regional threats and build the lasting capacity to target terrorist financial networks wherever they operate,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
Wednesday’s action freezes any U.S. assets of the individuals and entities blacklisted and generally prohibits Americans from dealing with them.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
