In Joint Raid, Kurdish Forces Seize ISIS Militant in Syria
Smoke plumes rise from gas flaring at oil wells in the countryside near the town of al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey on December 18, 2022. (AFP)
In Joint Raid, Kurdish Forces Seize ISIS Militant in Syria
Smoke plumes rise from gas flaring at oil wells in the countryside near the town of al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey on December 18, 2022. (AFP)
A Kurdish-led group in Syria said Monday that its fighters alongside US forces have arrested a wanted militant with the ISIS group that continues to stage attacks in the region.
There are some 900 US troops in Syria supporting Kurdish-led forces in the fight against the militant group.
The Syrian Democratic Forces said its fighters led a raid on the home of an unnamed ISIS leader on Dec. 16 in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor. The group's statement claimed the arrested man managed militant cells in the region.
The SDF shared a photo purporting to show evidence they confiscated during the raid, including two cellphones, a dozen SIM cards, an internet router, a Syrian-issued identity document and a pistol with three magazines.
The SDF added that this was the fifth such raid over the past two weeks.
They have frequently targeted the militants mostly in parts of northeastern Syria under Kurdish control. On Dec. 11, a US helicopter raid in eastern Syria killed two ISIS militants.
Syria has been mired in a bloody civil war since 2011 that has drawn in regional and global powers. Syrian President Bashar Assad has mostly regained control of the country, but parts of its north remain under the control of rebels, as well as Turkish and Syrian Kurdish forces.
Türkiye strongly opposes the presence of the Syrian Kurdish groups along its border that it blames for attacks within its territory. A series of Turkish airstrikes in the area earlier this month temporarily halted US-Kurdish patrols and raised concerns that cross border tensions would hinder the fight against ISIS.
On Nov. 30, ISIS announced that leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in battle. The US said al-Qurayshi was killed in an operation conducted by Syrian opposition forces in the southern city of Daraa.
US Imposes Broadest Sanctions Yet on Hezbollah’s Financial Institutionshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5290691-us-imposes-broadest-sanctions-yet-hezbollah%E2%80%99s-financial-institutions
Debris lies at the site of a damaged branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a financial institution linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah, in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes that hit several branches of the institution, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut suburbs, Lebanon, October 21, 2024. (Reuters)
US Imposes Broadest Sanctions Yet on Hezbollah’s Financial Institutions
Debris lies at the site of a damaged branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a financial institution linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah, in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes that hit several branches of the institution, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut suburbs, Lebanon, October 21, 2024. (Reuters)
The US Treasury announced on Tuesday that it was imposing sanctions on five financial entities and 16 individuals related to Hezbollah’s financial operations in the latest escalation aimed at curbing the Iran-backed group’s sources of funding.
The targets include major Hezbollah institutions Al-Qard Al-Hassan and Bayt al-Mal, as well as their senior leaders. “These coordinated actions underscore Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) members’ shared commitment to disrupting Hezbollah’s ability to exploit the international financial system. All targets announced today were previously designated by the United States,” said a Treasury statement.
The networks designated on Tuesday “threaten regional stability, international security, mutual interests, and global trade. By restricting Hezbollah's access to funding, TFTC members are working to protect the integrity of the international financial system, support the Lebanese people, and counter terror networks,” it added.
“Al-Qard Al-Hassan masquerades as a non-governmental organization (NGO) under the cover of a Ministry of Interior-granted NGO license. However, it provides financial services similar to a bank, far beyond anything disclosed in its original registration documents, and in practice illicitly moves funds through shell accounts and facilitators,” it continued.
“Hezbollah uses Al-Qard Al-Hassan to facilitate its destabilizing militant activities, undermining the Lebanese people’s ability to rebuild while enabling the group’s own interests,” it stressed.
“By hoarding hard currency that is desperately needed by the Lebanese economy, Al-Qard Al-Hassan allows Hezbollah to build its own support base and compromise the stability of the Lebanese state.”
“Bayt al-Mal functions as Hezbollah’s unofficial treasury, holding and investing its assets and serving as intermediaries between the terrorist group and mainstream banks,” added the statement.
“Bayt al-Mal operates under the direct supervision of the Hezbollah Secretary-General. As one of Hezbollah's main financial bodies, Bayt al-Mal serves as a bank, creditor, and investment arm for Hezbollah.”
The sanctions were issued after Lebanon and Israel reached last week a “framework agreement”, with US mediation, aimed at restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty and disarming Hezbollah and dismantling its infrastructure.
American administration officials had said that protecting the agreement demands not only security arrangements on the ground, but increasing pressure on networks that use civilian fronts to try to empower Hezbollah or obstruct the implementation of the agreement.
People inspect the damage at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a branch of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan in the southern city of Tyre on October 21, 2024. (AFP)
Commenting on the new sanctions, an official source in the administration told Asharq Al-Awsat that they send a strong message to Hezbollah that the time of benefitting from unofficial funding is over.
They also send a message to Lebanese authorities that any leniency in dealing with illicit financial networks will be met with even stronger US pressure, it added.
The targeted individuals include Ibrahim Ali Daher, “the Chief of Hezbollah’s Central Finance Unit, which oversees Hezbollah’s overall budget and spending, including the group’s funding of its terrorist operations inside and outside Lebanon.”
The Central Finance unit receives Hezbollah’s worldwide income and is responsible for managing and auditing the budgets of all Hezbollah units and departments, including coordinating the payment of all Hezbollah members, said the Treasury.
Daher and the Central Finance Unit operate within the group’s Executive Council and with direction from the Hezbollah Secretary-General on where to distribute funds. In this capacity, Daher has been a key figure in Hezbollah's financial infrastructure for well over a decade and a half.
Adel Mohamad Mansour is the Executive Director of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a position that he has held for years. In addition to his role within Al-Qard Al-Hassan, Mansour has used his personal bank accounts to conduct transactions with various Hezbollah institutions.
Ahmad Mohamad Yazbeck is Al-Qard Al-Hassan's financial director. Yazbeck, along with Abbas Hassan Gharib, Mustafa Habib Harb, Ezzat Youssef Akar, and Hasan Chehadeh Othman have maintained joint bank accounts in Lebanese banks that has allowed them to transfer more than $500 million within the formal financial system for over a decade, despite existing sanctions against Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
Other targeted individuals include Samer Hasan Fawaz, Ali Mohamad Karnib, Abbas Hassan Gharib, Mustafa Habib Harb, Ezzat Youssef Akar, Hasan Chehadeh Othman, Nehme Ahmad Jamil, Issa Hussein Kassir, Ali Ahmad Krisht, Wahid Mahmud Subayti, Mohammed Suleiman Badir and Imad Mohamad Bezz. They were designated for their various roles in Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
Naser Hasan Neser, who managed Auditors for Accounting and Auditing, was also targeted for reporting to senior Hezbollah Executive Council and Central Finance Unit officials, including Daher, about the activities of Auditors.
Iraq Seizes Millions of Dollars at Deputy Oil Minister’s Homehttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5290675-iraq-seizes-millions-dollars-deputy-oil-minister%E2%80%99s-home
Iraq Seizes Millions of Dollars at Deputy Oil Minister’s Home
A photo released by Iraq’s judiciary shows cash and valuables that were hidden in the home of Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij al-Bahadly.
Iraqi authorities arrested Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij al-Bahadly, a US-sanctioned official accused of using his post to help Iran-linked networks smuggle oil.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said initial questioning of al-Bahadly led to the seizure of $11 million and 4 billion Iraqi dinars, about $3 million, as well as several properties. It said investigations were continuing.
Al-Bahadly was arrested before dawn on Sunday at his home in Baghdad’s upscale Zayouna district. Later, state media published images showing security forces pulling bags of cash from inside the walls of the house.
From politics to oil
Al-Bahadly entered Iraq’s oil sector in the early years after 2003, working as head of drilling operations at the Maysan oil fields authority. He later became director general and chairman of Maysan Oil Company.
His career also reflected shifting political loyalties. He won a parliamentary seat in 2014 with the State of Law Coalition and chaired parliament’s oil and energy committee.
He later moved toward the Reconstruction and Development coalition led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, which backed him for the oil ministry before he hit a US veto and, later, arrest.
The US Treasury Department sanctioned al-Bahadly in May under Executive Order 13902.
Washington accused him of using his position to facilitate oil smuggling for Iran-linked networks by falsifying certificates of origin, mixing Iranian oil with Iraqi oil and exporting it.
It also accused him of providing financial support to sanctioned figures and groups, including smuggler Salim Ahmed Said and the Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction.
Accountability
A former Oil Ministry official told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Bahadly “works within an integrated system in which most of the powerful, dominant political forces take part while remaining beyond accountability.”
The former official, who asked not to be named, did not clear al-Bahadly of corruption allegations.
But he said any serious fight against corruption would have to strike at “the powerful parties under whose protection and umbrella some officials in the Oil Ministry and other ministries operate.”
Observers see “US fingerprints” behind the pursuit of senior Oil Ministry officials, including deputy ministers Adnan al-Jumaili who was arrested recently.
Analysts say Washington views Baghdad’s latest “anti-corruption” campaign as a way to contain Iranian influence and a necessary step toward dismantling it.
Public support for the campaign is broad. But some Iraqis fear its momentum could fade, and that authorities may avoid the “big heads” that are widely blamed for corruption across Iraq over the past two decades.
On the street, Iraqis remain stunned by the methods corruption suspects allegedly used to hide cash, from underground pits to sealed rooms that security forces had to break open to reach the money.
Observers are also struck by the scale of the sums allegedly stolen and by the failure of oversight bodies to uncover them in recent years. Many believe what has emerged so far is only a tiny fraction of the public money looted.
Prison sentences
In the latest corruption cases, the Supreme Judicial Council said on Tuesday that the Diyala Criminal Court sentenced three people to 10 years in prison for embezzling funds allocated to compensate martyrs and people wounded in terrorist attacks.
It said the convicts exploited their jobs at the Diyala governorate office to issue 301 fake checks and transfer money from the compensation account to the governorate office’s operating advances account.
In other developments, authorities released former lawmaker Mohammed al-Sayhood on bail on Tuesday.
Sayhood, a cousin of former PM al-Sudani, was arrested on Sunday as part of a wider campaign targeting lawmakers and officials over suspected corruption.
A security source said he was released for health reasons.
UN Chief Warns Cash Crunch Threatens Palestinian Refugee Agencyhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5290522-un-chief-warns-cash-crunch-threatens-palestinian-refugee-agency
Displaced Palestinians gather to receive hot meals distributed by a charity kitchen in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on June 29, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Chief Warns Cash Crunch Threatens Palestinian Refugee Agency
Displaced Palestinians gather to receive hot meals distributed by a charity kitchen in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on June 29, 2026. (AFP)
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday of the "increasingly precarious" situation of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, saying that millions of people's livelihoods were at risk.
The secretary-general said that further funding cuts for UNRWA -- which Israel has criticized as politically biased -- could "push conditions beyond breaking point."
Because of insufficient funding, UNRWA has scaled back its operations since the start of the year.
"As we meet here today, the safety and welfare of millions of Palestine refugees hangs in the balance," Guterres told a donor conference for the UN agency.
He noted the "utterly appalling" living conditions in Gaza, violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
"It [UNRWA] faces sweeping restrictions throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory. And a cash shortfall that imperils its work across the region," Guterres said.
"I am appalled by continuing efforts to marginalize and undermine UNRWA through disinformation, smear campaigns, legislative actions, operational restrictions, diplomatic roadblocks and more," he said.
Israel has long opposed UNRWA, created by the UN General Assembly in 1949, and intensified its criticism after October 7, alleging that employees participated in the deadly 2023 attack on Israel.
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