One of the most effective ways to make life difficult for those who deliberately cause harm to others, is to take away their ability to use their bank accounts or to raise new funds, and to prevent them from spending those funds still within their possession, to purchase what they need to carry out their nefarious agendas.
So you lock them out of the international banking system, thus taking away their ability to transfer money to vendors and to receive money from donors; you freeze what funds they may have in the banking system; and you ensure that no businesses or manufacturers will trade with them.
That is essentially what happens when the United States designates, under Executive Order 13224, an individual or group deemed to be terrorist in nature, or likely to commit terrorist activity, thus posing an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
On December 18th, the U.S. Department of State designated the Ajnad Misr group, as well as Ibrahim al-Rubaysh as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Ajnad Misr is the only terrorist group that operates exclusively in the Greater Cairo area. It grew out of another designated terrorist organization, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, announcing its existence in January 2014. Since then, Ajnad Misr has been the most active terrorist group operating in Egypt outside of the Sinai Peninsula. The group targets state actors. To date, it has claimed at least 15 attacks on public officials and their vehicles, government buildings and public spaces.
Ibrahim al-Rubaysh, also known as Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad Arbaysh, is a senior leader of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, itself a foreign terrorist organization and Specially Designated Global entity. He serves as a senior advisor for the group and is involved in the planning of attacks. He has served as a senior AQAP sharia official since 2013. As such, he provides the justification for attacks conducted by AQAP.
By designating Ajnad Misr and Ibrahim al-Rubaysh, the United States is taking a decisive step toward starving the group and individual it of their resources, disrupting their ability to execute their deadly agendas, and ensuring they find it ever more difficult to carry out their acts of violence.
