Israeli airstrike kills government major oil businessman in Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – A suspected Israeli airstrike killed on Monday Syrian businessman, close to the Syrian government, Muhammad Baraa al-Qatirji, in his car on Damascus-Beirut highway.

North Press correspondent reported that an airstrike, likely to be Israeli, bombed the car of the Syrian al-Qaterji near a tourist area of Yafour, south of Damascus, southern Syria.

The correspondent added that the airstrike hit the car directly causing the immediate death for all individuals inside it.

Muhammad al-Qaterji was the owner of al-Qaterji Group which works closely with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to coordinate providing of 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.

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.

By Saad al-Yaziji