KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Kuwait’s ambassador to the United States said his country is committed to fighting terrorism after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned three Kuwaiti men suspected of helping finance terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.
The official Kuwait News Agency, known as KUNA, reported late Wednesday that the ambassador, Sheik Salem Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah, reaffirmed Kuwait’s commitment and said it is “approving a law to combat terrorist activity and financing.”
Al Sabah pledged to pursue the matter with the State Department, saying the issue will be discussed “openly and transparently, in a manner that fosters the strategic relationship” between the two counties.
The U.S. identified two of the men being sanctioned as Kuwaitis Shafi al-Ajmi and Hajaj al-Ajmi for their alleged support of the Nusra Front group, which is al-Qaida’s branch in Syria. It is fighting against some Syrian rebel groups as well as President Bashar Assad’s forces.
A third man, Abd al-Rahman al-Aniz, was sanctioned because of suspected support for the Islamic State, the al-Qaida breakaway group that has overrun large parts of Iraq and Syria.
KUNA described all three as Kuwaitis.
Wednesday’s sanctions freeze any assets the three might have in U.S. jurisdiction and bans U.S. citizens from doing business with them.
Twitter accounts belonging to Shafi al-Ajmi and Hajaj al-Ajmi that had been active before the sanctions were imposed had been suspended by Thursday.
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