U.S. Freezes Assets of Syrian Said to Finance Iraq Insurgents

[Syrinx]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 - The Bush administration acted Tuesday to freeze the finances of a Syrian man accused of helping finance insurgents in Iraq by providing support to Al Qaeda's top operative there.

The Treasury Department's action against the Syrian, Sulayman Khalid Darwish, means that any bank accounts or financial assets belonging to him that are found in the United States are frozen. Both the United States and Syria are asking United Nations members to freeze his assets.

The administration says Mr. Darwish provided financial and other support to terror networks run by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leading Qaeda operative in Iraq.

"This terrorist financier is helping support al-Zarqawi, who has launched violent acts against our troops, coalition partners and the Iraqi people," Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said in a statement. "Identifying financial operatives and choking off the flow of blood money moves us closer to our ultimate goal of fracturing the financial backbone of the Iraqi insurgency and Al Qaeda."

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