Accessibility links

Breaking News

US Imposes Sanctions on Alleged Syria Militant Leaders


FILE - Rebels from al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front, wave their brigade flag as they step on the top of a Syrian air force helicopter at Taftanaz air base, Jan. 11, 2013.
FILE - Rebels from al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front, wave their brigade flag as they step on the top of a Syrian air force helicopter at Taftanaz air base, Jan. 11, 2013.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday placed two alleged leaders of the militant group Nusra Front in Syria on its sanctions blacklist.

U.S. authorities said the two men, Iyad Nazmi Salih Khalil and Bassam Ahmad al-Hasri, helped oversee Nusra's operations in Syria, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The U.S. action orders American companies to cut off all ties with the men and freeze any assets.

As of last year, Khalil was the group's third-highest ranking official, strengthened its security and intelligence operations responsible for assassinations and ran prisons notorious for torture, U.S. authorities said.

While controlling less territory and manpower than Islamic State, U.S. officials view Nusra as a continuing threat in Iraq and Syria. Nusra now calls itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, since severing its ties with al-Qaida last year.

Separately, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted a Syria-based company, Mechanical Construction Factory, for its alleged ties to a Syrian government agency that produced non-conventional weapons.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG