The Times : “Qatar pumped millions of dollars to Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in Syria”
The State of Qatar has been accused of facilitating a secret money laundering operation and sending hundreds of millions of dollars to the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria.
The charges include prominent Qatari politicians and businessmen who were involved in the plot.
The charges show that the Gulf state (Qatar) is playing a central role in a multi-million dollar money laundering operation.
Qatar, which is hosting the World Cup, has ”poured hundreds of millions of dollars into al-Qaeda-linked terrorists fighting in Syria”.
The Times on Friday, June 4, published a claim this week in the High Court in London, that a private office of the King of the State of Qatar was at the heart of the secret ways in which money was transferred to the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat Al-Nusra.
Leading Qatari politicians, businessmen, charities and civil servants have used a private office run by the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Thamim bin Hamad, and two banks to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
The charges are contained in papers filed in the High Court in London this week on behalf of nine Syrians who are seeking damages for financial losses, torture, arbitrary detention and death threats they allege were subjected to as a result of this scheme, or by Jabhat al-Nusra.
The Times said all the defendants denied the charges. Qatar will host the next World Cup next year.
According to court documents seen by The Times, the Qatari state – in alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood – orchestrated a conspiracy to “support and facilitate” Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists during the fighting during the Syrian civil war.
The money was transferred using expensive construction contracts, the purchase of expensive real estate and overpayments to Syrian workers, he claims.
The court papers alleged that the money was sent either directly to Syria or to banks in Turkey, where it was towed and transported across the border to the terrorist group.
The National Bank of Qatar, the largest financial institution in the Middle East, and the Bank of Doha are accused of facilitating transactions.
According to the suit, the banks knew or should have known “the actual purpose of using the funds”. Both have denied the charges.
Jabhat al-Nusra was founded in Syria by followers of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who later became the leader of ISIS but led al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was sent from Iraq to establish a presence in Syria.
The group was founded in 2011 under the name Jabhat al-Nusra, led by a jihadist using the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Joulani, with the stated goal of overthrowing the regime of Bashar al-Assad and establishing an Islamic state.
In 2013, a major split occurred when al-Baghdadi attempted to merge Jabhat al-Nusra with al-Qaeda in Iraq to create ISIS.
While some al-Nusra fighters have joined ISIS, al-Joulani insisted no such merger had taken place and other “jihadists” had mobilized around him.
The following year, the two groups took up arms against each other, with Jabhat al-Nusra fighting ISIS around Racca. They have been hostile ever since.
There have been further divisions within al-Nusra since then, and the group has come under several different names including the authority of Tahrir al-Sham and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
“Today, it largely controls areas of Syria’s Idleb province – the last of the country’s provinces not retaken by the Syrian army.”
Al-Nusra has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States since 2012, and America has not directly funded or supported the group.
However, it is widely believed that weapons provided to other groups have found their way into the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra and that CIA-trained fighters joined the group after entering Syria.
