Saudi envoy backs UN push against IS militants

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait agreed to comply with a UN resolution aimed at stopping financing for Islamic State (IS) militant groups in Syria and Iraq after four of their nationals were named among a group blacklisted by the international body.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN, Abdullah Al-Muallami, said Riyadh was “committed to implementation” of the resolution.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday intended to weaken the Islamic State.
Gulf media said that two of the blacklisted men were Saudis wanted by Riyadh for links to IS militants, while two others were Kuwaitis, including Sheikh Hajaj bin Fahd Al Ajmi, accused of links to Syria’s Al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front.
Asharq Al-Awsat said the two Saudi nationals, Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim Al-Charekh and Abdelrahman Mouhamad Zafir Al-Jahani, were on two lists of wanted militants issued in 2009 and in 2011.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors casualties in fighting in Syria, has said that Charekh was killed near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in March. Jahani was believed to be at large somewhere outside Saudi Arabia.