Washington: The United States has stepped up its rhetoric against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, slapping rewards on two of its commanders and urging allies to blacklist it.
The Trump administration has determined that the Lebanese group is seeking to carry out attacks against the United States and has offered millions of dollars for whoever can help them apprehend two of its leaders.
President Donald Trump is due to unveil a new strategy to counter Iran later this week, but in the meantime, senior officials singled out Tehran’s ally in Syria and Lebanon.
“It is our assessment that Hezbollah is determined to give itself a potential homeland option as a critical component of its terrorism playbook,” said Nicholas Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, during a briefing Tuesday.
Rasmussen went on to say that the US government was seeking help arresting Talal Hamiyeh and Fu’ad Shukr, and would pay $7 million and $5 million rewards for the two officials, respectively.
Hamiyeh is the head of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization. While, Shakr is a leading Hezbollah operative and top adviser to Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general. He allegedly helped launch and plan the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings that killed 241 US and 58 French peacekeepers and six civilians.
“Countering Hezbollah is a top priority for the Trump administration,” ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism Nathan Sales told reporters, announcing the rewards for two alleged top-level Hezbollah operatives.
“These are the first Hezbollah-related rewards under the Rewards for Justice Program in a decade,” Sales said.
“The United States and our allies will aggressively target its terrorism infrastructure and financial support networks,” he vowed, hailing support from US friends.
But he warned that “more work needs to be done.”
“Some countries have chosen to designate only Hezbollah’s military wing, leaving its so-called ‘political wing’ untouched. But that is a false distinction,” he said.
“Make no mistake: Hezbollah has no political wing. It is a single organization, a terrorist organization, and it is rotten to its core,” he argued.
Washington and the Lebanese movement have been foes since 1983 when the group was blamed by for deadly suicide bombings against its embassy and a US barracks in Beirut.
Since then Hezbollah has become a powerful military force in the region and has been implicated in several international attacks. Hezbollah, however, is also a heavyweight in Lebanese politics.
(With inputs from PTI)