ISIS-ISIL Sanctions?

One could generally call me a “disbeliever” when President (of some unknown country) Obama struck out in his September 10, 2014 against “ISIS”.  Some people rant and rave that they don’t like Obama for some unknown reason without specifics.  I’m the fair type of person and like documentation with an objection.  Could someone explain this to me that is more familiar with the organizations in the Middle East?

In Obama’s Executive Order 13606 (Paperwork at end of this article-scroll down to see), the title leads one to believe that Obama is issuing Sanctions against the Governments of Iran and Syria.  However, reading through the Order 13606, I came across Section 10: “The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to determine that circumstances no longer warrant the blocking of the property and interests in property of a person listed in the Annex to this order and to take necessary action to give effect to that determination.”

So, I check the Annex to see WHO is no longer being blocked from property and interests in property, which include land, stocks, and bank accounts.

The Annex lists:

1. Ali MAMLUK [director of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, born 1947]
Entities:
1. Syrian General Intelligence Directorate
2. Syriatel
3. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
4. Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security
5. Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran
6. Datak Telecom

Now, to me, this sounds like a list of terrorist.  So, a little further checking I came across this article  concerning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps:

“Soleimani, 57, is the former commander of Quds Force, the special-force division of the notorious Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and is described as the most powerful actor in the Middle East cauldron.He is still believed to control the Quds Force, responsible for Iran’s extraterritorial activity in the region, and answers only to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei…..It is said that Soleimani’s intervention in Syria, where he provided counsel, weapons and raised militia units to join the morale-weakened Syrian army, is directly responsible for keeping Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in power. The US has listed him as a terrorist, and Australia has made it a criminal offence for anyone to make assets available to him.”

“Soleimani, who in his early years as a soldier fought both Iraqis and Kurds, has managed to negotiate a supply route from Iran across northern Iraq, through Kurdish lands, to Syria.  From there, he has given Iran has access to Lebanon and Hezbollah, which the CSIS describes as Iran’s “closest non-state ally”.  The CSIS says Soleimani’s aim in to train and build a Shia insurgency across the region. That means will mean increasing military support to the Assad regime, partly because Iran needs continued access to Hezbollah — a terrorist and criminal organisation that relies on Iran, just as Iran relies on it for money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking and projecting itself by proxy in the region.”

And this about Syriatel:

“The European Union imposed sanctions on Syria’s main mobile phone operator Syriatel”

And if you want to be really confused, check this out on Datak Telecom.  The report, located here,  thinks that there are sanctions against Datak Telecom.  Here’s an excerpt:

“The executive order that Obama signed on Sunday freezes U.S. assets linked to those aiding satellite, computer and phone network monitoring in Syria as well as Iran, where Washington believes authorities are targeting opposition members. It cites the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, the Syrian cell phone company Syriatel, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and the Iranian Internet provider Datak Telecom,….”

Another fun filled fact ISIS and ISIL is the same group but ISIL covers more territory.  The “L” stands for Levant “the town of Levant just outside of Bangor was named for the Middle Eastern region back in 1813.”

1813.”