Bara' Katerji and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Credit: Photo from Facebook account)
Syrian businessman Bara' Katerji, born in 1976 in Raqqa, was killed on Monday in an Israeli strike at the Lebanese-Syrian border, according to three security sources who spoke to Reuters. Israel has not commented on the strike.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that an Israeli drone targeted a car with Lebanese plates, in which Katerji was traveling, in the Saboura region of Damascus province, killing him and another individual, likely a Hezbollah member. The pro-government Syrian daily al-Watan confirmed Bara' Katerji's death "in a Zionist strike that targeted his car at the border between Syria and Lebanon."
According to the SOHR, Katerji, known to be close to Iran, was responsible for funding the Syrian Resistance Faction for the Liberation of the Golan (annexed by Israel), a group founded by Hezbollah in 2014 to conduct operations against Israel from southern Syria. The party's secretary-general announced its creation in May 2013.
Katerji was also known as the shadowy figure behind the "Katerji brothers," managing some of Bashar al-Assad’s and his entourage’s dark affairs.
Grandsons of a shepherd from al-Bab in Aleppo province, Bara' Katerji and his brother Houssam, once small-time traders in Aleppo, rose to prominence as the kings of smuggling between regime and opposition-held areas during the Syrian war.
"The two men climbed the social ladder at breakneck speed, eventually entering the circle of the country's powerful," a Lebanese businessman told L’Orient Le-Jour in 2019. Resembling characters straight out of a 1990s Turkish sitcom, with their jet-black hair, small mustaches and flashy suits, the two men established a significant network in northeastern Syria through their skill in bribing armed militias.
American Sanctions
Bara' and Houssam Katerji headed a large smuggling network for crude oil, diesel and gasoline from areas controlled by the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to regime-held zones. The Katerji brothers were rewarded for "serving" the Syrian government, with Houssam getting a seat in Parliament in the 2016 elections. Their business also acted as an intermediary between the government and the Islamic State, notably purchasing wheat from regions under ISIS control.
In February 2019, the Wall Street Journal revealed that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were delivering oil to the Syrian government. Katerji led the "Katerji International Group," which included various companies, notably in the oil sector. In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him for overseeing Syria's import and export activities and aiding in weapon and ammunition transportation under the pretense of food product trade. The Katerji trucking company also transported weapons from Iraq to Syria.
Bara' Katerji and his brothers Houssam and Mohammad Agha had already formed an armed militia, the "Katerji Group," mainly based in Alep province, which notably participated in the city's siege in 2016.
