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U.S. imposes sanctions on Tunisian man for sending fighters to Syria

14 April 2015 18:56 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The United States on Tuesday slapped sanctions on a Tunisian man for allegedly helping to send fighters to Syria and smuggling weapons to Tunisia, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The State Department branded Ali Ouni Harzi as a specially designated global terrorist, a move that entails sanctions barring Americans from doing business with him and freezing all of his assets under U.S. jurisdiction.

In addition, Harzi was added to the UN 1267/1989 al-Qaida Sanctions List, with all member states required to implement an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo against him, the department said in a statement.

Based in Syria, Harzi joined Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AAS-T) in 2011 and was "a high-profile member known for recruiting volunteers, facilitating the travel of AAS-T fighters to Syria, and for smuggling weapons and explosives into Tunisia," the agency said.

AAS-T was blacklisted by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2014, and was added to the UN al-Qaida sanctions list in September that year.