New US sanctions target Iraqi Qaeda

The US Treasury Department has announced new financial sanctions targeting Muthanna Harith al-Dari, an Iraqi accused of providing support to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
The Treasury said it had also partnered with Iraq's government to add Dari to the United Nations 1267 Committee list of al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked individuals and entities.
The sanctions freeze any US assets belonging to Dari, and prohibit US citizens from doing business with him.
In a statement, the Treasury Department accused Dari of trying from August 2008 to "reinvigorate the insurgency in Iraq by providing training to any insurgent organization" targeting foreign troops.
It said Dari provided one million dollars to AQI member who recruited and trained fighters, and funded a group, which used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in attacks on Coalition Forces.
The Treasury said Dari also funded another AQI cell, plus his own group the 1920s Revolutionary Brigade.
Dari is a former spokesman of the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association, a organization formed shortly after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that sought to defend the rights of Sunni Muslims.
His father was chief of the organization, which began to lose influence around 2007.