A lawsuit recently filed in London by nine Syrian nationals alleges that Qatar
provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support to al-Nusra Front,


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U.K. Court Hears Claim Against Qatar Alleging Support For Al-Nusra Front
Terror Group

 

(New York, N.Y.) – A lawsuit recently filed
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in London by nine Syrian nationals alleges that Qatar provided hundreds of
millions of dollars in support toal-Nusra Front
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a former al-Qaeda affiliate and one of the strongest insurgent groups in Syria.
The Syrian nationals are suing for financial damages, torture, arbitrary
detention, and threats of execution by al-Nusra Front. They allege that a group
of businessmen, politicians, civil servants, two Qatari banks, and multiple
charities conspired on behalf of the State of Qatar, in coordination with the
Muslim Brotherhood, to support al-Nusra Front’s operations by laundering money
on the group’s behalf. Allegedly, funds from the Qatari accounts were sent
either directly into Syria or to banks in Turkey, where they were then
withdrawn and taken across the border to al-Nusra.

 

In April 2021, the U.S. Congressional Research Service reported
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al-Nusra Front as being “instrumental” in persuading the group to claim to
sever its ties to al-Qaeda, astrategic
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financial support to the ‘legitimitzed’ group. Al-Nusra Front is designated as
a foreign terrorist group by the United States, United Kingdom, eight other
countries, and the European Union.

 

Along with al-Nusra Front, officials and organizations affiliated with Qatari
leadership have historically provided significant financial support to numerous
other terror organizations, includingHamas
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and otherfactions
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of al-Qaeda. Qatar’s links to terror organizations, including Iran’sIslamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
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, furthers significant instability in the Middle East and poses grave danger to
U.S. forces, allies and innocent civilians in the region.

 

Previously, in August 2019, eight Syrian refugees filed a lawsuit in the U.K.
allegingQatar <[link removed]>-based Doha
Bank channeled funds to al-Nusra Front. According to the complaint, Qatari
brothers Moutaz and Ramez al-Khayyat used accounts at the bank to direct
funding to al-Nusra Front during the Syrian civil war. The plaintiffs alleged
they were subjected to “severe physical and psychiatric injuries” and
displacement by al-Nusra Front. According to the lawsuit, the Khayyat brothers
allegedly transferred large amounts of money via the bank to accounts in Turkey
and Lebanon, where the cash was withdrawn and taken across the Syrian border
for delivery to al-Nusra fighters, allowing al-Nusra “to cause loss and damage
to the claimants.”

 

To read the Counter Extremism Project (CEP)’s Qatar resource, please click here
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To read CEP’s Al-Nusra Front resource, please click here
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To read CEP’s Qatar, Money, and Terror resource, please click here
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