U.S. designates Hassan Nasrallah’s son as a terrorist

Washington DC: The US State Department on Tuesday designated Jawad Nasrallah, son of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a terrorist and accused him of carrying out attacks against Israel in the West Bank.

Jawad Nasrallah with his father, leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah

The U.S. State Dept. also blacklisted Al-Mujahidin Brigades (AMB), which it said had links to Hezbollah and had plotted a number of attacks against Israeli targets.

“Today’s designations seek to deny Nasrallah and AMB the resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks,” the State Department said in a statement. Later, the State Department announced it was offering up to $5 million each for information leading to the locations of Hamas leader Salih al-Aruri, Lebanese Hezbollah leaders Khalil Yusif Mahmoud Harb and Haytham Ali Tabatabaei under the agency’s so-called Rewards for Justice Program. The State Dept. said both Hamas and Hezbollah receive weapons, training and funding from Iran. Washington recently reimposed sanctions against Tehran after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 nuclear deal.

The U.S. State Dept. also imposed sanctions on four operatives linked to Hezbollah over its actions in Iraq. The sanctions targeted Ubayd Al-Zaydi, Yusuf Hashim, Adnan Hussein Kawtharani, and Muhammad ‘Abd-Al-Hadi Farhat, who were said to have provided financial, material and technological support to Hezbollah in Iraq.