Commander of Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Visits Al-Tanf Base After Drones’ Attack

Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, commander of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, meets with leaders from a Syrian opposition faction in the Al-Tanf base. (Free Syrian Army)
Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, commander of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, meets with leaders from a Syrian opposition faction in the Al-Tanf base. (Free Syrian Army)
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Commander of Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Visits Al-Tanf Base After Drones’ Attack

Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, commander of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, meets with leaders from a Syrian opposition faction in the Al-Tanf base. (Free Syrian Army)
Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, commander of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, meets with leaders from a Syrian opposition faction in the Al-Tanf base. (Free Syrian Army)

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) revealed that an official from the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS held talks with leaders from the FSA on military coordination between both sides.

This comes days after a drones-attack that targeted the Al-Tanf base.

The talks held by Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, commander of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, reflects “joint efforts to secure a lasting defeat of ISIS and to work towards a better future for the region,” according to a statement issued by the Free Syrian Army.

“The meeting discussed joint cooperation and coordination in military affairs, particularly in training and arming,” added the statement.

Three one-way attack drones targeted the Al-Tanf military base in southeastern Syria, according to a statement issued on January 20 by the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

CENTCOM noted that two of the drones were shot down by Coalition Forces while one struck the compound, injuring two members of an opposition Syrian faction.

The US forces did not accuse any party of the attack, AFP reported.

“Attacks of this kind are unacceptable – they place our troops and our partners at risk,” said Joe Buccino, CENTCOM spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) suggested that the drones belonged to pro-Iranian groups, explaining that the two injured belonged to the Free Syrian Army which is a US-backed opposition faction active in the Al-Tanf area.

The international coalition forces brought a new convoy to the northeast of Syria, coming from Kurdistan-Iraq region through “Al-Waled” border crossing in Al-Hasakah countryside.

The convoy comprises 40 trucks carrying closed wooden boxes, logistic equipment, and fuel tanks, and headed towards the coalition bases in Al-Hasakah, according to SOHR.

The Observatory added that on January 15, the international coalition forces brought in new military reinforcements, including armored vehicles and fuel tankers, via the Al-Walid border crossing towards its military base in Al-Shaddadi town.



A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
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A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa

An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
At a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his businesses, The Associated Press said.
Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey.
In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to prison.
She told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship “for prestige and profit” and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was “someone to be admired.”
“You knew about Ahmad’s suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him," she said. "This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.”
The Met’s investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies.
“This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence.
Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad’s assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group.
Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.