Israeli drone strike on Lebanese-Syrian border kills pro-government Syrian businessman

BEIRUT — An Israeli drone strike on a car near the Lebanese-Syrian border on Monday killed a prominent Syrian businessman who was under U.S. sanctions and had close ties to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, pro-government media and an official of an Iran-backed group reported.

Mohammed Baraa Katerji was killed when his car was hit by a drone in the Saboura area, a few kilometers inside Syria. He had apparently entered the country from Lebanon. Israel’s air force has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in recent years, mainly targeting members of Iranian-backed groups and the Syrian military. But it has been rare for government figures to be hit.

The attack also took place against the backdrop of almost daily exchanges of fire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in early October.

A representative of an Iran-backed group said Katerji died instantly in his SUV on the highway between Lebanon and Syria. The representative spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The pro-government daily Al-Watan quoted anonymous “sources” as saying that 48-year-old Katerji was killed in a “Zionist drone attack on his car.” No further details were given.

Rami Abdurrahman, chairman of the UK-based opposition war watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Katerji was killed in a car with Lebanese plates and appeared to have been targeted because he funded the “Syrian resistance” against Israel in the Golan Heights and because he had links to Iran-backed groups in Syria.

Israel has vowed to end the Iranian occupation of its northern neighbor and has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges the attacks.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Katerji in 2018 because he was Assad’s middleman for oil trade with the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) and facilitated arms shipments from Iraq to Syria.

OFAC added that Katerji was responsible for import and export activities in Syria and helped transport weapons and ammunition under the guise of importing and exporting food. These shipments were monitored by the US-designated Syrian Intelligence Directorate, according to OFAC.

It added that the Syria-based Katerji Company is a shipping company that has also shipped weapons from Iraq to Syria. In addition, the Katerji Company was named as the sole agent for supplying oil and other goods to ISIS-controlled areas in a 2016 trade agreement between the Syrian government and ISIS.

Katerji and his brother Hussam – commonly known in Syria as the “Katerji brothers” – entered the oil business a few years after the conflict in the country broke out in March 2011. Hussam Katerji is a former member of the Syrian parliament.

Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus, Syria.