U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that two men were arrested on suspicions of funneling money to the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas.
Mohammed Hamid Khalil Salah was arrested in Chicago and Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar in northern Virginia on Thursday.
Also, an arrest warrant was issued against Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a U.S. resident who lives in Syria. It is not clear to whether the United States would seek his extradition or not.
‘The individuals named in this indictment are alleged to have played a substantial role in financing and supporting international terrorism.†U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told a news conference.
A Syrian official criticized the U.S. government move, accusing that it was meant to prepare for more sanctions against Syria, and to divert attention away from the war in Iraq.
The U.S. State Department formally designated Hamas a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ in 1997.
