Syrian businessman killed on way to meet Lebanese Hezbollah
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Muhammad Baraa al-Qaterji, a prominent Syrian businessman, close to the Syrian government, was killed on Monday while he was on his way to meet with leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah, a source told North Press.
The source, who preferred to be anonymous for security reasons, said al-Qaterji was driving his own car and heading to Lebanon to meet with leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Al-Qaterji was killed on Monday in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his car near Yafour tourist area on Damascus-Beirut highway.
The source added that he was going to meet with the Lebanese Hezbollah leaders to coordinate to find ways to provide the group with weapons and ammunition via Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Muhammad al-Qaterji was the owner of al-Qaterji Group which works closely with the IRGC to coordinate providing millions of barrels of oil and petroleum products to be shipped to Syria, as well as millions of dollars in payments back to Iran.
He was the owner of the paramilitary group known as al-Qaterji militia, which is responsible for transporting crude oil from northern and eastern regions of Syria towards government-held areas.
According to the source, al-Qaterji was considered one of the main supporters for the IRGC in Syria. He, through his group, was recruiting Syrians to work for the benefit of the IRGC.
He was also smuggling militants of the Iran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba to Lebanon through Hermel area on the Syrian-Lebanese border, the source noted.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had previously sanctioned al-Qaterji and a number of fuel procurement networks that operate in Syria, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to secure deliveries of crude oil, fuel, and liquefied natural gas for the “Syrian regime.