The United States has frozen the assets of the top aide and brother in law of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The Bush administration termed Syrian military intelligence chief
Assaf Shawkat a terrorist financier. Officials said the designation would
lead to a U.S. and international effort to track and seize Shawkat's assets.
"As the director of Syrian military intelligence, Shawkat has been a key
architect of Syria's domination of Lebanon, as well as a fundamental
contributor to Syria's long-standing policy to foment terrorism against
Israel," Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said.
Shawkat, married to the president's sister, was said to have coordinated
with Hizbullah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
In 2005, Treasury said, Shawkat met
Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, PFLP-GC commander Ahmad Jibril
as well as Hamas and Jihad leaders and "discussed coordination and
cooperation between the terrorist groups."
Under the designation, announced on Wednesday, Americans would be banned
from engaging in any transaction with the 55-year-old Shawkat. Treasury said
all of Shawkat assets under U.S. jurisdiction would be frozen.
The Treasury statement termed Shawkat as head of "the strongest and most
influential security service in Syria." Syrian military intelligence was
said to work with "terrorist organizations resident in Syria" and has
overseen the Syrian security presence in Lebanon.
"Shawkat and Jibril hoped to ease the freedom of movement for
Palestinian terrorist groups, including PFLP-GC in Lebanon, so that the
groups could move between Lebanon and Syria, as well as receive weapons and
ammunition more easily," the statement said.
In 2003, Treasury said, Shawkat ordered Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP-GC
to lower their profiles. The statement said Shawkat demanded that none of
the groups could meet without his permission.
"In return, the SMI [Shawkat] declared that they would not expel any of
the groups' members from Syrian soil or close offices, provided their
demands were met," the statement said.
Treasury outlined a long relationship between Shawkat and insurgency
groups. The statement said that in 1997 Shawkat instructed Islamic Jihad
secretary-general Ramadan Shallah to surveil strategic targets in a
"neighboring country to prepare for possible future attacks." The country
was not identified, but officials said the reference was to Jordan.
"We remain deeply concerned about Syria's destablizing behavior in the
Middle East and its continued support for terrorism," White House spokesman
Scott McClellan said. "It [terrorist financier designation] sends an
important signal that people are going to be held to account for their
behavior."
