Ribal Al-Assad welcomes decision by UN to add Nursa Front to the Al Qaeda Sanctions List
Friday, 31 May 2013
UN Adds Nusra Front to Al Qaeda Sanctions List
Wall Street Journal
MAY 31, 2013
The United Nations Security Council added the Nusra Front to its list of aliases for al Qaeda in Iraq, subjecting the Syrian group to a global asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
The U.N. move was taken by the Security Council’s al Qaeda sanctions committee, which maintains all sanctions imposed under Resolution 1267.
Nusra Front, which is fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, pledged allegiance to al Qaeda’s Iraq branch in April. In December, the U.S. State Department placed Nusra Front on its list of foreign terror groups.
On May 16, the State Department named the Nusra Front leader, Muhammad al-Jawlani, as a terrorist, placing him under sanctions.
An Al Jazeera report, citing diplomats speaking anonymously, said Syria initially asked for Nusra Front to be designated a new terrorist group, but the U.K. and France countered with a proposal to list it as an alias of al-Qaeda because there were concerns about the Syrian evidence supporting its request.
No matter where listed, the sanctions imposed are the same.
Commending the decision ODFS Director, Ribal Al Assad, said:
“I welcome this move by the United Nations, it has been evident for some time that the Nursa Front has been linked to Al Qaeda and I am pleased that robust action has now been taken to curb this terrorist group. I am also pleased to see that America took the initiative by putting the Nursa Front on its black list.
It is important that the UN now places all extremist Islamist groups on the embargo list, these groups should not be receiving any support, financial or otherwise. I call on the international community to put pressure on all countries that support these groups - and hold them to account on their actions.”