ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish and Iraqi forces, with coalition backing, arrested 10 members of an ISIS financial network in recent operations in Erbil and Baghdad. "The arrests deal a major blow to ISIS's capacity to threaten and terrorize civilians," said Maj. Gen. Patrick B. Roberson, commander of special operations for the global coalition against ISIS. The ten arrested were members of the al-Rawi financial network, the coalition stated. Eight of the arrests were previously announced by the Kurdistan Region counter-terror directorate. Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi was killed by a coalition airstrike in Syria’s al-Boukamal on June 16, 2017. The US Treasury slapped sanctions on Rawi in December 2016 for providing material and financial support to ISIS. Rawi, who owned a Hanifa Exchange branch in al-Boukamal, pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014 and used his extensive financial contacts to help the terror group purchase weapons and ammunition, pay its fighters, and store money. The recent arrests took place in Baghdad and Erbil between October 7 and 9, the coalition stated. Kurdistan Region’s counter-terror directorate released video of the arrests of eight ISIS suspects, breaking up a “big network of ISIS financial resources who worked in Iraq and Syria,” overnight on October 6. "This demonstrates that those who assist in, sponsor, or provide financial, material or technological support to ISIS will face severe consequences,” said Roberson.
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