The US State Department on Thursday designated the Abdallah Azzam Brigades (AAB) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist outfit.
The State Department said in a press release that it took these actions in consultation with the Departments of Justice and Treasury.
A militant organization based in both Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula, AAB was formed in 2009. It's leader Saleh al-Qar'awi and bomb maker Abu Jabal were designated by the United States last year.
AAB carried out a July 2010 attack on the Japanese-owned oil tanker M/V M.Star in the Strait of Hormuz. AAB claimed that the attack was carried out by its Arabian Peninsula Branch, which calls itself the Yusuf al-'Uyayri Battalions of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades. AAB has repeatedly articulated its intent to carry out attacks against Western interests in the Middle East. In 2010, the group threatened to kidnap U.S. and British tourists in the Arabian Peninsula.
In addition, AAB is responsible for numerous indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Attacks launched from within Lebanon by the Ziyad al-Jarrah Battalions of the Abdallah Azzam Brigades have targeted population centers in northern Israel.
The designations prohibit Americans from providing material support or resources to, or engaging in transactions with, the Abdallah Azzam Brigades. All property and interest in property of the organization that are in the United States, or come within the United States, or the control of U.S. Persons are frozen.
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