Libya: Washington Sanctions Alleged IS Financial Sponsors

The US Treasury Department Thursday placed sanctions against six high profile terrorists among whom Salmi Salama Salim Sulayman ‘Ammar, known as IS money facilitator and presentative of the Sinai-based IS’s offshoot terrorist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) in Libya.

The sanctions are part of US strategies meant to “disrupt the fundraising and support networks of al-Qaida, al-Nusrah Front, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and IS,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.

“Today’s action targets critical al-Qaida, al-Nusrah Front, AQAP, and ISIL financiers and facilitators responsible for moving money, weapons, and people on behalf of these terrorist organizations,” the statement said.

Salmi Salama Salim Sulayman ‘Ammar as of 2015, was acting for or on behalf of and provided financial and material support to IS in the Sinai Peninsula, the Treasury Department says.

‘Ammar reportedly had represented the ABM in Libya since 2014 and was working with IS. He also facilitated transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Libya to ABM in the Sinai Province. The Libya-based Egyptian terrorist helped channel money, weapons, and ammunition to the Sinai Peninsula from 2014 to 2015.

He pledged allegiance to IS during his stay in Syria in 2014.

IS entered Libya in 2014 as the country was torn into shreds by rival Libyan brothers competing for power following the death of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed revolution in 2011.

The group has conquered large swathes of Libya, including most coastal regions. The group, believed to have up to 6,000 fighters, also controls Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte, sitting at some hundred miles from European Southern coasts.

The other five targeted terrorists are Kuwait-based Abdullah Hadi ‘Abd al-Rahman Fayhan Sharban al-‘Anizi of al-Qaida and al-Nusrah Front, Kuwait-based Abd al-Muhsin Zabin Mutib Naif al-Mutayri, financial supporter of al-Nusrah Front in Syria,and Yemen-based Nayif Salih Salim al-Qaysi, AQAP’s logistics and money provider. Yemen-based Ghalib Abdullah al-Zaidi, operating for AQAP, and Syria-based Mostafa Mahamed, financial facilitator of al-Nusrah Front in Syria are also on the sanctions list.