Syrian businessman close to Assad killed by Israeli strike
FILE PHOTO: A person looks at a vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen (WCK), including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the NGO as the Israeli military said it was conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this "tragic" incident, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza, Strip April 2, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot/File Photo
A prominent Syrian businessman who was close to President Bashal al-Assad was killed by an Israeli drone strike on July 15th, according to The National. A key player in the war-torn nation’s economy, the tycoon was also linked to Iran and the militant group Hezbollah.
Mohammed Baraa Katerji met his end when his car was targeted on the Damascus-Beirut road in the Sabboura area. Syrian government media outlets published photos of what was reportedly his vehicle on fire.
Israel has been conducting periodic air strikes against the Levantine nation, attacking what it describes as Iran-associated targets as well as the Syrian military. Israel and Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militant Islamist group Hezbollah has also been attacking each other since the start of the war on Gaza, according to Asharq al-Awsat.
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According to Rami Abdurrahman, head of the UK-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Katerji was in a car with a Lebanese license plate when he was killed. He was apparently targeted due to his involvement in funding the “Syrian resistance” against Israel in the Golan Heights which is considered occupied territory.
Katerji was part of a new class of businessmen who supported President al-Assad and oversaw militias. According to the U.S. State Department, the oil-rich scion “facilitated fuel trade between the Syrian regime and ISIS, including providing oil products to ISIS-controlled territory”. The American government also imposed sanctions on Katerji in 2018 for such involvement.
Katerji’s company was responsible for shipping weapons from Iraq to Syria, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). It was also the exclusive agent for supplying oil and other commodities to ISIS-controlled areas in 2016.
On July 10th, Israel killed a former bodyguard of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on the same road that Katerji was killed on.
The National
