UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council was set to approve a resolution late Friday aimed at weakening militants in Iraq and Syria by choking their sources of money, weapons and foreign recruits, diplomats said.
The resolution, which is gives the 15-member Council enforcement powers under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, demands that the militants ‘disarm and disband with immediate effect.’ The text would thus authorise the use of economic or military force to ensure compliance, the strongest tool at the 15-member Council’s disposal under the Charter. The draft ‘deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist acts of ISIL and its violent extremist ideology, and its continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.’
It names six new people to be placed under an international travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo: Abdelrahman Zafir al Dabidi al Jahani, Hajjaj Bin Fahd Al Ajmi, Said Arif and Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim al Charekh for ties to Nusra Front, Abou Mohamed al Adnani for links to Islamic State and Hamid Hamad Hamid al-Ali for ties to both.
The resolution condemns the recruitment of foreign fighters, demands they all withdraw and ‘expresses its readiness to consider listing those recruiting for or participating in the activities’ of Nusra Front and Islamic State, including through financing or facilitating travel of foreign fighters.
The resolution expresses concern that oilfields captured by both groups ‘are generating income which support their recruitment efforts and strengthen their operational capability to organize and carry out terrorist attacks.’ It condemns any direct or indirect trade with Islamic State or Nusra Front and warns such moves could lead to sanctions.
The draft resolution would ask UN experts - charged with monitoring violations of the council’s al Qaeda sanctions regime - to report ‘within 90 days on the threat, including to the region, posed by (Islamic State and Nusra Front), their sources of arms, funding, recruitment and demographics, and recommendations for additional action to address the threat.’ Britain initially aimed to adopt the text by the end of August, but accelerated its plan after a surge by Islamic State, which poses the biggest threat to Iraq, a major oil exporter, since Saddam Hussein was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Islamic State has long been blacklisted by the Security Council, while Nusra Front was added earlier this year. Both groups are designated under the UN al Qaeda sanctions regime.
Friday’s resolution named six people who will be subject to an international travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo, including Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, an Iraqi described by UN experts as one of the group’s ‘most influential emirs’ and close to its leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The Islamic State’s swift and brutal push to the borders of Iraq’s autonomous ethnic Kurdish region and toward Baghdad has sparked the first U.S. air strikes in Iraq since the withdrawal of American troops in 2011.
The Security Council resolution ‘deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist acts of ISIL (Islamic State) and its violent extremist ideology, and its continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.’ It also blacklisted Said Arif, a former Algerian army officer who escaped house arrest in France in 2013 and joined Nusra Front in Syria, and Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim al-Charekh of Saudi Arabia, dubbed ‘a leading terrorist internet propagandist’ who heads Nusra Front in Syria’s Latakia district.
Hamid Hamad Hamid al-Ali and Hajjaj bin Fahd al-Ajmi, both from Kuwait, were sanctioned for allegedly providing financial support to Nusra Front - Ajmi’s fundraising includes at least one Twitter campaign, according UN experts - while Abdelrahman Mouhamad Zafir al Dabidi al Jahani of Saudi Arabia was named because he runs Nusra Front’s foreign fighter networks.
Britain initially aimed to adopt the text by the end of August, but accelerated its plan after a surge by Islamic State, which poses the biggest threat to Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
The resolution condemns the recruitment of foreign fighters and expresses readiness to blacklist people financing or facilitating travel of foreign fighters. It expresses concern that revenue generated from oilfields captured by both groups is being used to organize attacks. Islamic State militants are selling oil from oilfields in Iraq and refineries they control to local communities and smugglers, augmenting their existing ample finances, U.S. intelligence officials said on Thursday.
The resolution condemns any direct or indirect trade with Islamic State or Nusra Front and warns such moves could lead to sanctions. It asks UN experts - charged with monitoring violations of the council’s al Qaeda sanctions regime - to report in 90 days on the threat posed by Islamic State and Nusra Front, and on details of their recruitment and funding. The resolution is under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it legally binding for UN member states and gives the council authority to enforce decisions with economic sanctions or force. However, it does not mandate military force to tackle the insurgents