U.S. designates ISIS-supporting brothers based in Turkey

[Valin]

Long War Journal

Thomas Joscelyn

November 18, 2019

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced a new round of counterterrorism designations targeting the Islamic State’s support network. Among those sanctioned are two brothers — Ismail and Ahmet Bayaltun — who are based in Turkey and have acted as procurement agents for the group.

The U.S government’s new designations are the latest in a series identifying Islamic State front companies, facilitators and other personnel in Turkey.

Ismail Bayaltun owns and controls a business named ACL Ithalat Ihracat, which is based in Sanliurfa, a city in southern Turkey that is not far from the Syrian border. Through that company, the Bayaltun brothers have “provided support to ISIS fighters,” including “equipment” in 2015 and 2017.

Ahmet is identified as “an ISIS procurement agent,” but the operation apparently involves more than just the pair of brothers. U.S. Treasury refers to multiple “siblings” who were working with Ismail Bayaltun as of “late 2018” to provide “material support to ISIS.”

Another business based in Sanliurfa, Al-Sultan Money Transfer Company, has moved money for the would-be caliphate. Treasury says that earlier this year an unidentified “ISIS associate identified Al-Sultan as an exchange that could be used [to] avoid scrutiny when transferring funds.”

(Snip)