UNITED NATIONS — The United States and Russia have joined forces to draft a legally binding Security Council resolution to strengthen sanctions against those who do business with terrorist groups, chiefly the Islamic State.
That agreement hints at the possibility of greater cooperation to end the civil war in Syria.
The mammoth 28-page draft resolution, which is expected to be adopted Thursday at a meeting led by the United States Treasury secretary, Jacob Lew, repackages sanctions that have been in place for more than a dozen years, but are often flouted.
The draft calls on countries to describe what steps they are taking to prevent terrorist organizations from making money, including interdicting oil sales. It also aims to prevent the groups from using international banks, and bolsters monitoring efforts by the United Nations.
The effects may be limited: The Islamic State draws a large share of its revenues from “taxes” imposed on the people who live in its territories.
Still, diplomats said, the resolution was an important measure of fledgling cooperation between top American and Russian officials to negotiate a political accord on the Syrian conflict. They have both increasingly focused on what they agree on — combating the threat of the Islamic State — and deferred the question that they disagree on — what becomes of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
The next test of that cooperation will come Friday, when diplomats from more than a dozen countries are to gather in New York with the aim of getting the Syrian government and opposition groups to agree to a cease-fire and a transitional government in January.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/world/middleeast/un-council-to-adopt-sanctions-against-isis.html?ref=world&_r=0
