US slaps sanctions on 12 'terrorist' group supporters

Washington: 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."

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.

The single entity designated, Indonesia-based Hilal Ahmar Society Indonesia (HASI), is "ostensibly" the humanitarian wing of Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a number of attacks in Southeast Asia, with the deadliest being the Bali bombings of October 2002 that killed 202 people.

"While not indicative of the activities of the charitable sector as a whole, the activities of HASI demonstrate how terrorist groups, such as JI, continue to abuse charitable giving to raise and use funds to support violent acts and provide cover for logistical requirements for their terrorist organization," the Treasury said.