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Washington Sanctions 6 Entities, 3 Individuals Involved in Arming Houthis

This handout picture courtesy of the US Naval Forces Central Command released on June 15, 2024 shows sailors from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group rendering assistance to distressed mariners at sea in the Red Sea, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by US NAVY / AFP)
This handout picture courtesy of the US Naval Forces Central Command released on June 15, 2024 shows sailors from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group rendering assistance to distressed mariners at sea in the Red Sea, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by US NAVY / AFP)
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Washington Sanctions 6 Entities, 3 Individuals Involved in Arming Houthis

This handout picture courtesy of the US Naval Forces Central Command released on June 15, 2024 shows sailors from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group rendering assistance to distressed mariners at sea in the Red Sea, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by US NAVY / AFP)
This handout picture courtesy of the US Naval Forces Central Command released on June 15, 2024 shows sailors from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group rendering assistance to distressed mariners at sea in the Red Sea, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by US NAVY / AFP)

The US has imposed new sanctions on three individuals and six entities that have facilitated weapons procurement for Yemen’s Houthis.

The sanctions targeted a ship involved in arms smuggling for the Iran-backed group, and companies based in China, the Sultanate of Oman, and the UAE.

“We have sanctioned three individuals and six entities that facilitated the purchase of weapons for the Houthis. Additionally, we have designated one ship owned by one of the sanctioned entities as prohibited property,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Miller emphasized Washington’s commitment to using “the tools available to obstruct the flow of military materials to Yemen.”

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement that the sanctions involved an individual based in China.

“Ali Abd-al-Wahhab Muhammad al-Wazir is a China-based Houthi-affiliated individual who plays a key role in procuring materials that enable Houthi forces to manufacture advanced conventional weapons inside Yemen,” it said.

The statement also noted that al-Wazir uses his China-based company, Guangzhou Tasneem Trading Company Limited (Guangzhou Tasneem), to obtain these items and ship them to Yemen.

Guangzhou Tasneem is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Tasneem Trading Company Limited.

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on another individual, Muaadh Ahmed Mohammed al-Haifi, who runs the Oman-based International Smart Digital Interface Limited Liability Company (ISDI) that has purchased and facilitated the transfer of cruise missile components, manufacturing equipment, and other dual-use materials into Yemen.

According to the Treasury, al-Haifi’s activities had played a key role in the 2020 Houthi attacks on a Saudi Aramco facility in the region using a Quds-type land attack cruise missile that contained components that ISDI had sourced from a PRC-based supplier.

Also, the Treasury imposed sanctions on the Cameroon-flagged OTARIA, which is managed by UAE-based Stellar Wave Marine L.L.C and captained by Vyacheslav Salyga. It said the ship loaded commodities associated with Houthi financier Said al-Jamal in late May 2024 to be discharged in Singapore.

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said the sanctions aim to stop the “Houthis’ continued, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks against unarmed commercial vessels and which are made possible by their access to key components necessary for the production of their missiles and UAVs.”

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Kurdish-Led Forces Push Back Turkish-Backed Syrian Opposition Faction in Tense Offensive

This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)
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Kurdish-Led Forces Push Back Turkish-Backed Syrian Opposition Faction in Tense Offensive

This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Tuesday they have launched a counter-offensive against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army to take back areas near Syria’s northern border with Türkiye.

The SDF is Washington’s critical ally in Syria, targeting sleeper cells of the extremist ISIS group scattered across the country's east.

Since the fall of the totalitarian rule of Bashar Assad earlier this month, clashes have intensified between the US-backed group and the SNA, which captured the key city of Manbij and the areas surrounding it.

The intense weekslong clashes come at a time when Syria, battered by over a decade of war and economic misery, negotiates its political future following half a century under the Assad dynasty’s rule.

Ruken Jamal, spokesperson of the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, under the SDF, told The Associated Press that their fighters are just over seven miles (11 kilometers) away from the center of Manbij in their ongoing counter-offensive.

She accused Ankara of trying to weaken the group’s influence in negotiations over Syria’s political future through the SNA,

“Syria is now in a new phase, and discussions are underway about the future of the country,” Jamal said. “Türkiye is trying, through its attacks, to distract us with battles and exclude us from the negotiations in Damascus.”

A Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says since the SNA’s offensive in northern Syria against the Kurds started earlier this month, dozens from both sides have been killed.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Tuesday with Turkish Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, according to Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. He said they discussed the ongoing situation in Syria, and Austin emphasized that close and continuous coordination is crucial to a successful effort to counter ISIS in the country. They also discussed the importance of setting the conditions to enable a more secure and stable Syria.

Ankara sees the SDF as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it classifies as a terrorist organization. Turkish-backed armed groups alongside Turkish jets for years have attacked positions where the SDF are largely present across northern Syria, in a bid to create a buffer zone free from the group along the large shared border.

While the SNA was involved in the lightning insurgency — led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — that toppled Assad, it has continued its push against the SDF, seen as Syria’s second key actor for its political future.

On Monday, the SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami said the group's forces pushed back the Turkish-backed opposition fighters from areas near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates, a key source of hydroelectric power. He said the SDF also destroyed a tank belonging to the opposition southeast of Manbij.

The British-based war monitor said on Tuesday that the Kurdish-led group, following overnight fighting, has reclaimed four villages in the areas near the strategic dam.

Turkish jets also pounded the strategic border town of Kobani in recent days.

During Syria’s uprising-turned-conflict, the Kurds carved out an enclave of autonomous rule across northeastern Syria, never fully allying entirely with Assad in Damascus nor the opposition trying to overthrow him.

Even with the Assad family out of the picture, it appears that Ankara’s position won’t change, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s landmark visit to Syria maintaining a strong position on the Kurdish-led group in his meeting with de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa of HTS.

“It has turned the region into a cauldron of terror with PKK members and far-left groups who have come from Türkiye, Iraq, Iran and Europe," Fidan said in a news conference after the meeting. “The international community is turning a blind eye to this lawlessness because of the wardenship it provides (against ISIS).”

With the ongoing fighting, SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi has expressed concern about a strong ISIS resurgence due to the power vacuum in Syria and the ongoing fighting, which has left the Kurdish-led group unable to carry out its attacks and raids on the extremist group’s scattered sleeper cells.

Tens of thousands of children, family members, and supporters of ISIS militants are still held in large detention centers in northeastern Syria, in areas under SDF control.