US Treasury designates key ISIS financial facilitator in Turkey

Duvar English

The United States has designated a key ISIS financial facilitator in Turkey, Adnan Muhammad Amin al-Rawi, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement on July 28.

According to the statement, it designated another financial facilitator in Syria, Faruq Hamud.

"This action coincides with the thirteenth meeting of the Counter ISIS Finance Group [CIFG], which includes over 60 countries and international organizations, and plays a fundamental role in coordinating efforts to deny ISIS access to the international financial system and eliminate its sources of revenue," the statement read.

“The Trump Administration continues to be fully committed to disrupting ISIS’s financial activities and networks,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

“Together, with our CIFG partners, we must remain vigilant to ensure that the global remnants of this terrorist group do not regain a foothold.”

Both al-Rawi and Hamud have been designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, which, among other things, targets those who commit acts of terrorism and those who have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of such acts and of persons previously designated under the E.O.

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According to OFAC, al-Rawi has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, ISIS.

This designation builds on a series of Treasury actions dating to 2016 with the designation of ISIS finance emir Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi.

Since then, Treasury has continued targeting other al-Rawi network members and their associated entities for providing critical financial and logistical support to ISIS.

In Syria, Hamud has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, ISIS, which was previously designated under E.O. 13224, the U.S. said.

Hamud operated a branch of the Tawasul hawala in the al Hawl Internally Displaced Persons camp. This hawala served ISIS members and transferred payments for ISIS from outside Syria.

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Housing upwards of 70,000 refugees, al-Hawl holds one of the largest concentrations of current and former ISIS members who continue to receive donations from ISIS supporters internationally.

ISIS members receive these donations through multiple mechanisms that payout through the hawala system in the camp. A separate branch of the Tawasul hawala, located in Harim, Syria, was designated by Treasury in November 2019, coinciding with the last meeting of the CIFG.

The Treasury said that all property and interests in property of the said individuals that are in or come within the United States or the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC.

Any foreign financial institution that knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of individuals and entities designated today could be subject to U.S. correspondent account or payable-through account sanctions, it added.