The US Treasury Department said Thursday that it had blacklisted four men accused of funneling militants, weapons and money through Syria to support Al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.
Treasury officials said the four men, including two brothers, had been blacklisted for supporting a network that has carried out attacks on US military personnel based in Iraq. "Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Syria has become a transit station for Al-Qaeda foreign terrorists on their way to Iraq," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury's top anti-terrorism and financial intelligence official.
The Treasury's action bars any US business or citizens from conducting transactions with the four men and also freezes any assets the men might hold under US jurisdiction. The Treasury identified the four as Badran Turki Hishan Al Mazidih, Ghazy Fezza Hishan Al Mazidih, Akram Turki Hishan Al Mazidih and Saddah Jaylut Al-Marsumi. It said Akram Turki Hishan Al Mazidih was Badran's brother. All the men are known by multiple other names. The Treasury said Badran was based in Syria and had been appointed as Al-Qaeda in Iraq's Syrian commander by the former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi who was killed in Iraq by a US air strike in 2006. US government officials regularly claim that militants fighting American forces in Iraq source reinforcements and supplies through Syria, which borders northwest Iraq. |