US sanctions financing network for Houthi militia

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (KUNA) -- The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday sanctioned 13 individuals and entities responsible for financing the Houthi militia of Yemen.
In a press statement, the OFAC accused the sanctioned persons and entities of providing tens of millions of dollars' worth of foreign currency generated from the sale and shipment of Iranian commodities, backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), to the Houthis.
"The Houthis continue to receive funding and support from Iran, and the result is unsurprising: unprovoked attacks on civilian infrastructure and commercial shipping, disrupting maritime security and threatening international commercial trade," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.
"Treasury will continue to disrupt the financial facilitation and procurement networks that enable these destabilizing activities." The OFAC noted that through a complex network of exchange houses and companies in multiple jurisdictions, these persons, under the auspices of US-sanctioned Houthi and IRGC-QF financial facilitator Sa'id al-Jamal, serve as an important conduit through which Iranian money reaches the country's militant partners in Yemen.
"Since October, the Houthis have conducted multiple unprovoked missile and drone attacks threatening civilian infrastructure in Israel and commercial shipping operating in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
"US warships operating in international waters have had to respond in self-defense to missile attacks from the Houthis," reads the OFAC statement, cautioning that such actions further regional instability and risk broadening the conflict between Israel and Hamas. (end) rsr.ibi