Syria Buying Oil from ISIS, U.S. Says
The Obama administration accused the Syrian government Wednesday of purchasing oil from the Islamic State (ISIS), the New York Times reports.
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted a Syrian construction executive and a Russian businessman suspected of facilitating transactions between Bashar al-Assad’s government and the jihadist extremists in Syria.
The sanctions mark the latest attempt to put financial pressure on Assad, who Obama has said must step down from power to bring an end to Syria’s civil war. The move is also designed to cut off a key source of ISIS cash flow.
“The Syrian government is responsible for widespread brutality and violence against its own people,” said Adam J. Szubin, the top U.S. Treasury official dealing with financial intelligence and terrorism. “The United States will continue targeting the finances of all those enabling Assad to continue inflicting violence on the Syrian people.”
The action underlines one of the Obama administrations key arguments: Although Assad says he is at war with Islamist extremists, he has a “symbiotic relationship” with ISIS that has allowed it to flourish while he stays in power, according to the NYT.
Monitor: Russia Airstrikes Hit Latakia Where Plane Went Down
Russian fighter jets carried out heavy air raids in the northern province of Latakia on Wednesday, a day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in the same area, AFP reports.
“Russian warplanes have since last night been carrying out heavy airstrikes on the Jabal Akrad and Jabal Turkman regions” in Latakia, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdulrahman said, although he had no information on casualties.
A media activist on the ground said the bombing had been centered on the area in which a Russian helicopter was shot down Tuesday by rebel forces as it attempted to rescue the aircrew of the downed jet. One crewmember was killed, but the rest were rescued.
For almost a week now, Syrian forces and allied militias have been conducting fierce ground battles against rebels in northern Latakia, making minor advances in the Jabal Akrad and Jabal Turkman areas.
Airstrikes on Wednesday also hit several trucks carrying aid and goods for sale, killing at least three people near the Turkish border in the northern province of Aleppo.
Iranian General Lightly Wounded in Aleppo
General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations unit, has been lightly injured during ground battles against rebel forces near Aleppo.
A security source on the ground told AFP that Soleimani “was injured a few days ago” in fighting southwest of Aleppo.
According to observatory chief Abdulrahman, the Iranian general was “lightly injured three days ago in the al-Eis area in the south of Aleppo province.”
Rumors that the commander was severely wounded or even killed in Syria have been circulating on social media for several days.
But a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday that Soleimani was “in perfect health and full of energy.”
Abdulrahman told AFP the general had been “leading military operations on the outskirts of al-Eis, which is under the control of pro-regime forces.
“Many Iranian fighters are present in the area,” he added.
Rebel groups in the vicinity began a counteroffensive on Sunday, according to Abdulrahman, to retake areas in southern Aleppo that Assad loyalists have taken over, with Russian air support, in the past two months.
Recommended Reads
- The Associated Press: Russian Crackdown on Muslims Fuels Exodus to Islamic State
- Reuters: Exclusive: U.S. Has Urged Legal Reforms Abroad to Block Islamic State Recruits
- The New Yorker: The Rubble-Strewn Road to Damascus
- Politico: ‘The Day Assad Leaves Syria, I Will Return’
- The Washington Post: American and Russian Militaries Don’t Agree About Much in Syria
- Bloomberg: The Turkish Wild Card in Syria That Russia and U.S. Both Need
Top image: Russian businessman Kirsan N. Ilyumzhinov, shown in 2011, has been accused of “materially assisting” the government of Syria and top banking officials there. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press)