国际英语新闻:U.S. targets persons for funding terror groups in Syria, Iraq

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on three persons, including two Kuwaiti nationals, for sending money, arms and fighters to terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

The Department of Treasury targeted the Kuwaitis, Shafi Sultan Mohammed al-Ajmi and Hajjaj Fahd Hajjaj Muhammad Sahib al-'Ajmi, for providing money and arms to al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaida-linked extremist group fighting the Syrian government.

'Abd al-Rahman Khalaf 'Ubayd Juday'al-'Anizi, the third man whose nationality is not disclosed, was accused of financing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a splinter group of al-Qaida that has seized swaths of territories in northern and western Iraq and declared on June 29 the establishment of a caliphate in areas under its control in Iraq and Syria.

The Treasury designated the trio as specially designated global terrorists and its sanctions against them freeze all of their assets under U.S. jurisdiction and bar the Americans from doing business with them.

"Through fundraising appeals on social media and the use of financial networks, Shafi al-Ajmi, Hajjaj al-'Ajmi, and al-' Anizi have been funding the terrorists fighting in Syria and Iraq, " said David Cohen, under secretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

"We and our international partners, including the Kuwaiti government, need to act more urgently and effectively to disrupt these terrorist financing efforts," he said in a statement.