The @StateDept has designated Jawad Nasrallah and Al-Mujahidin Brigades (AMB) as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (#SDGTs) and maintained the Foreign Terrorist Organization (#FTO) designation of #Hizballah. Read more at https://t.co/gjUeh2fwQg pic.twitter.com/6jxoqV2R3p
— State Dept CT Bureau (@StateDeptCT) November 13, 2018
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The U.S. Department of State is offering rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the identification or location of Hamas leader Salih al-Aruri and Lebanese Hizballah leaders Khalil Yusif Mahmoud Harb and Haytham ‘Ali Tabataba’i.
Under the agency’s “Rewards for Justice” program later, added Jawad Nasrallah, son of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a terrorist and accused him of carrying out attacks against Israel in the West Bank.
The department said Hamas and Hizballah receive weapons, training, and funding from Iran, which the Secretary of State has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. Washington recently reimposed sanctions against Tehran after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 nuclear deal.
The State Department designated both Hamas and Hizballah as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) in October 1997, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entities in October 2001 under Executive Order 13224.
.@StateDeptDSS Assistant Secretary Michael Evanoff announces new measures that the U.S. Government is taking against Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas. pic.twitter.com/4Hr1NuxIPc
— Department of State (@StateDept) November 13, 2018
On Tuesday, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on four people linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah who coordinates the terrorist group’s activities in Iraq.
The US Treasury added Shibl Muhsin Ubayd al-Zaydi ( Iraqi), Yusuf Hashim, Adnan Hussein Kawtharani and Muhammad Abd-al-Hadi Farhat (all Lebanese) to its Specially Designated Global Terrorists list.
The department also blacklisted Al-Mujahidin Brigades (AMB), which it said had links to Hezbollah and had plotted a number of attacks against Israeli targets from a base in the Palestinian territories.
About the wanted terrorists
Salih al-Aruri is a deputy of the political bureau of the terrorist organization Hamas and one of the founders of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. Aruri is currently living freely in Lebanon, where he reportedly is working with Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. Aruri funded and directed Hamas military operations in the West Bank and has been linked to several terrorist attacks, hijackings, and kidnappings.
In 2014, al-Aruri announced Hamas’s responsibility for the June 12, 2014 terrorist attack that kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, including dual U.S. –Israeli citizen Naftali Fraenkel. He publicly praised the murders as a “heroic operation.”
In September 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated al-Aruri as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) pursuant to Executive Order 13224.
UP TO $5 MILLION REWARD!! Submit a tip for these terrorist leaders and you may be considered for a reward. Relocation possible. 100% confidential. $150 million has been paid out to 100 sources- you could be the next recipient. https://t.co/LtBVhsrwTc #RFJ pic.twitter.com/etpqtAJDCH
— Rewards for Justice (@Rewards4Justice) November 13, 2018
Khalil Yusif Mahmoud Harb is a close adviser to Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Hizballah terrorist group, and has served as the group’s chief military liaison to Iran and to Palestinian terrorist organizations. Harb has commanded and supervised Lebanese Hizballah’s military operations in the Palestinian territories and in several countries throughout the Middle East.
In August 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Harb as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224.
In May 2015, Saudi officials designated Harb as a terrorist and accused him of commanding Hizballah’s “central military unit” and of being responsible for Hizballah’s activities in Yemen.
Haytham ‘Ali Tabataba’i is a key Hizballah military leader who has commanded Hizballah’s special forces in both Syria and Yemen. Tabataba’i’s actions in Syria and Yemen are part of a larger Hizballah effort to provide training, materiel, and personnel in support of its destabilizing regional activities.
In October 2016, the Department of State designated Tabataba’i as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224.
