Israeli airstrike kills businessman sanctioned by US for ISIS links, Syrian media reports
By Eyad Kourdi and Ben Wedeman, CNN
(CNN) — An Israeli airstrike near the Lebanese-Syrian border has killed a prominent Syrian businessman who was sanctioned by the United States, local media reported Monday.
Mohammad Baraa Qatarji died when the strike hit the car he was traveling in on the al-Saboura highway near Damascus, according to Syrian state-aligned newspaper al-Watan.
Qatarji had been sanctioned in 2018 by the US Treasury and was on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list for facilitating “shipments of fuel and weapons to the Syrian regime.”
According to OFAC, Qatirji and his company had facilitated the trade in fuel between the regime and ISIS and had provided oil products to ISIS-controlled territory.
“In a 2016 trade deal between the government of Syria and ISIS, the Qatirji company was identified as the exclusive agent for providing supplies to ISIS-controlled areas, including oil and other commodities,” OFAC said.
According to the US Treasury website, Qatarji had a strong working relationship with officials within the Syrian government, including in the ministries of oil and trade.
Qatarji and his two brothers Zahed and Hussam – who are also sanctioned by OFAC – established a militia that fought alongside the Syrian regime in Aleppo in 2016. They are also accused of having links with Hezbollah.
According to OFAC, earlier this year, Lebanon-based Syrian money exchanger Tawfiq Muhammad Sa’id al-Law provided Hezbollah with cryptocurrency digital wallets to conduct transfers on behalf of the Qatirji Company.
Earlier in April, Lebanon’s interior minister said that a Hezbollah-linked Lebanese currency exchanger was abducted and killed in a villa on the edge of a quiet mountain resort town, likely the work of Israeli intelligence operatives.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about the strike but has not yet received a response.
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