US sanctions aim at Saudi-Hamas finance link

New US Treasury sanctions Thursday take aim at financial links between Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which the US labels a terrorist group.

The Treasury names Hamas political bureau member Saleh Aruri; Saudi-based Hamas financier Mahir Salah; Abu-Ubaydah Khayri Hafiz Al-Agha, a Saudi citizen and “senior Hamas financial officer”; and al-Agha’s company Asyaf International Holding Group for sanctions.

It says Aruri has since 2013 “overseen the distribution of Hamas finances” and works closely with Salah.

Salah, a dual British and Jordanian citizen, has led the Hamas Finance Committee in Saudi Arabia, which the Treasury calls “the largest center of Hamas’s financial activity.”

The Treasury also names Egyptian Mohammed Reda Mohammed Anwar Awad, a money exchange owner who has transferred funds to Hamas, to the sanctions blacklist.

The sanctions freeze all assets of the designated individuals and company that are in the United States and forbid any US individual or company from doing business with them.

— AFP