US designates Ismail Haniyeh, three groups as global terrorists

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (KUNA) -- The US designated Wednesday Ismail Haniyeh, Harakat al-Sabireen, Liwa al Thawra, and Harakat Sawa'd Misr (HASM) as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).
In announcing these designations, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson emphasized that "these designations target key terrorist groups and leaders, including two sponsored and directed by Iran, who are threatening the stability of the Middle East, undermining the peace process, and attacking our allies Egypt and Israel." "Today's actions are an important step in denying them the resources they need to plan and carry out their terrorist activities," he affirmed. The Department of State noted in a statement that these designations "seek to deny Ismail Haniyeh, Harakat al-Sabireen, Liwa al Thawra, and HASM the resources they need to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks." Among other consequences, all of their property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them, it added.
Ismail Haniyeh is the leader and President of the Political Bureau of Hamas, which was designated in 1997 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and in 2001 as an SDGT.
Harakat al-Sabireen is "an Iranian backed terrorist group that was established in 2014. The group operates primarily in Gaza and the West Bank and is led by Hisham Salem, a former leader of the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a State Department designated FTO and SDGT," according to the statement.
It indicated that Liwa al-Thawra "is a terrorist group active in the Qalyubia and Monofeya governorates of Egypt.
After announcing its formation in August 2016, the group claimed responsibility for the October 2016 assassination of brigadier general Adel Ragai, commander of the Egyptian army's Ninth Armored Division, outside his home in Cairo. In 2017, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing outside a police training center in the Egyptian city of Tanta." It noted that HASM is a "terrorist group also active in Egypt. Formed in 2015, the group claimed responsibility for the assassination of Egyptian National Security Agency officer Ibrahim Azzazy, as well as the attempted assassination of Egypt's former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa. HASM also claimed responsibility for a September 30, 2017 attack on Myanmar's embassy in Cairo." "Today's actions notify the U.S. public and the international community that Ismail Haniyeh, Harakat al-Sabireen, Liwa al-Thawra, and Harakat Sawa'd Misr have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism," the statement stressed. (end) si