US tags Hezbollah leader’s son a terrorist
The United States on Tuesday branded the son of Hezbollah’s leader a “terrorist” subject to sanctions as it offered rewards to capture three militants in Lebanon with close ties to Iran.
In a series of back-toback actions, the US vowed to aggressively counter the regional ambitions of Iran a week after imposing sweeping measures intended to cripple the cleric-led country’s economy.
It also marked a new US pressure tactic inside Lebanon, whose prime minister designate, Saad Hariri, has been at a political crossroads with Hezbollah — considered a terrorist group by Washington but also a major political faction among the communally sensitive state’s Shiite Muslims.
The State Department declared Jawad Nasrallah, the son of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, a “global terrorist,” meaning any US-based assets will be blocked and Americans will be forbidden from any transactions with him.
“Hezbollah’s destructive actions have endangered the Lebanese people,” Nathan Sales, US ambassador-atlarge and coordinator for counterterrorism, told reporters. He accused Hezbollah — the only of Lebanon’s political parties that did not disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war — of “effectively using civilians as human shields” by hiding missiles in population centres.
“Hezbollah’s ability to destabilise is not confined to the Middle East, however. It is able to destabilise inside Lebanon itself,” he said.