US designates foreign group, individual as terrorists

The Department of State on Wednesday designated the Al-Mulathamun Battalion - an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), as well as Usamah Amin al-Shihabi - leader of the Al-Nusrah Front's Palestinian wing in Lebanon, as terrorists. The Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designations, made in consultation with the Departments of Justice and Treasury, mean "a prohibition against knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to, or engaging in transactions with (the designees) and the freezing of all property and interests in property of the organization that are in the United States, or come within the United States or the control of U. S. persons" under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. "The Al-Mulathamun Battalion became a separate organization in late 2012 after its leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, split from AQIM," reads a statement by the Department of State. "In Belmokhtar's first public statement after the split he threatened to fight against Western interests and announced the creation of the sub-battalion, "Those Who Sign in Blood," reportedly made up of the organization's best fighters. The Battalion has also joined forces with Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) to form the group Al-Murabitoun, which the U.S. deemed an extremist group that "constitutes the greatest near-term threat to U.S. and Western interests in the Sahel." These related groups have all received terrorist designations. In the case of Al-Shihabi, the Department of Homeland Security was also involved. He was described as "an associate of Fatah Al-Islam (FAI), a Lebanese-based militant group formed in 2006, whose ultimate goal is the institution of Islamist sharia law in the Palestinian refugee camps and the destruction of Israel." The Al-Nusrah Front is part is Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and was designated as a terrorist group last year.