US adds al-Qaeda-linked Palestinian to terror list

Usamah Amin al-Shihabi is member of radical Sunni Lebanese jihadist group Fatah al-Islam, which calls for Israel’s destruction

By JTA 19 December 2013, 9:04 am

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Fighters from the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, during training (Wikicommons/File)

WASHINGTON — The US State Department added a Lebanon-based Palestinian Islamist linked to al-Qaeda to its list of designated terrorists.

Usamah Amin al-Shihabi is an associate of Fatah al-Islam, “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,” a statement issued Wednesday by the State Department said.

Media reports have identified al-Shihabi as part of an al-Qaeda vanguard in Lebanon and as having plotted attacks against Americans.

Being designated a terrorist means “a prohibition against US persons engaging in transactions with al-Shihabi, and the freezing of all property and interests in property of al-Shihabi that are in the United States, or come within the United States or the possession or control of US persons,” the statement said.