WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Gulf partners imposed additional sanctions on Lebanon’s Hezbollah leadership on Wednesday, targeting its top two officials, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem.

The U.S. Treasury Department said four other individuals were also sanctioned, as was the group ISIS in the Greater Sahara. It was the third round of sanctions announced by Washington since the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal last week.

Wednesday’s sanctions targeted members of the primary decision-making body of Hezbollah, Treasury said in a statement.

“By targeting Hezbollah’s Shura Council, our nations collectively rejected the false distinction between a so-called ‘Political Wing’ and Hezbollah’s global terrorist plotting,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

The measures were imposed jointly by Washington and its partners in the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center, or TFTC,, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, it said.

A number of those targeted by the TFTC had been previously blacklisted by the United States.

On Tuesday, the United States imposed sanctions on Iran’s central bank governor and an Iraq-based bank for “moving millions of dollars” for Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against six individuals and three companies it said were funneling millions of dollars to the Revolutionary Guard’s external arm, Quds Force.</s>Qatar and its adversaries in the Persian Gulf crisis have finally agreed to do something together: join the U.S. in placing terror sanctions on the Iranian ally Hezbollah. 

 

 The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations are slapping sanctions on Hezbollah's senior leadership. The sanctions are being coordinated by a U.S.-Gulf partnership called the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center. 

 

 The group was formed last May. Shortly thereafter, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties to Qatar and moved to isolate it economically. The spat has remained in a stalemate despite intermittent attempts by the U.S. to mediate or to hasten a resolution. 

 

 Most of the Hezbollah officials were already under heavy U.S. sanctions, so the actions will have limited practical implication in the United States. The Trump administration has been targeting Lebanese Hezbollah to increase pressure on its patron, Iran, following President Donald Trump's withdrawal last week from the Iran nuclear deal . 

 

 The sanctions come the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Qatar's foreign minister and urged a quick end to the Gulf dispute. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the Trump administration's commitment to working with all the Gulf nations to ensure sanctions are "fully enforced" and prevent the nations' financial systems from being exploited by terrorists. 

 

 Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Qatar and its adversaries in the Persian Gulf crisis have finally agreed to do something together: join the U.S. in placing terror sanctions on the Iranian ally Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations are slapping sanctions on Hezbollah's senior leadership. The sanctions are being coordinated by a U.S.-Gulf partnership called the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center.

The group was formed last May. Shortly thereafter, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties to Qatar and moved to isolate it economically. The spat has remained in a stalemate despite intermittent attempts by the U.S. to mediate or to hasten a resolution.

Most of the Hezbollah officials were already under heavy U.S. sanctions, so the actions will have limited practical implication in the United States. The Trump administration has been targeting Lebanese Hezbollah to increase pressure on its patron, Iran, following President Donald Trump's withdrawal last week from the Iran nuclear deal.

The sanctions come the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Qatar's foreign minister and urged a quick end to the Gulf dispute. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the Trump administration's commitment to working with all the Gulf nations to ensure sanctions are "fully enforced" and prevent the nations' financial systems from being exploited by terrorists.</s>WASHINGTON — Qatar and its adversaries in the Persian Gulf crisis have finally agreed to do something together: join the U.S. in placing terror sanctions on the Iranian ally Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations are slapping sanctions on Hezbollah’s senior leadership. The sanctions are being co-ordinated by a U.S.-Gulf partnership called the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center.

The group was formed last May. Shortly thereafter, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties to Qatar and moved to isolate it economically. The spat has remained in a stalemate despite intermittent attempts by the U.S. to mediate or to hasten a resolution.

Most of the Hezbollah officials were already under heavy U.S. sanctions, so the actions will have limited practical implication in the United States. The Trump administration has been targeting Lebanese Hezbollah to increase pressure on its patron, Iran, following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal last week from the Iran nuclear deal.

The sanctions come the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Qatar’s foreign minister and urged a quick end to the Gulf dispute. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the Trump administration’s commitment to working with all the Gulf nations to ensure sanctions are “fully enforced” and prevent the nations’ financial systems from being exploited by terrorists.</s>WASHINGTON — Qatar and its adversaries in the Persian Gulf crisis have finally agreed to do something together: join the U.S. in placing terror sanctions on the Iranian ally Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations are slapping sanctions on Hezbollah's senior leadership. The sanctions are being coordinated by a U.S.-Gulf partnership called the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center.

The group was formed last May. Shortly thereafter, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties to Qatar and moved to isolate it economically. The spat has remained in a stalemate despite intermittent attempts by the U.S. to mediate or to hasten a resolution.

Most of the Hezbollah officials were already under heavy U.S. sanctions, so the actions will have limited practical implication in the United States. The Trump administration has been targeting Lebanese Hezbollah to increase pressure on its patron, Iran, following President Donald Trump's withdrawal last week from the Iran nuclear deal.

The sanctions come the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Qatar's foreign minister and urged a quick end to the Gulf dispute. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the Trump administration's commitment to working with all the Gulf nations to ensure sanctions are "fully enforced" and prevent the nations' financial systems from being exploited by terrorists.</s>The United States and six Gulf Arab states announced sanctions Wednesday on the leadership of Hezbollah, as Washington seeks to step up economic pressure on Iran and its allies in the region.

The US and Saudi-led Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center said the sanctions were aimed at Hezbollah's Shura Council, the powerful Lebanese militia's decision-making council, led by the Shiite group's secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Naim Qasim, and three other Shura Council members were listed under the joint sanctions, which aim at freezing vulnerable assets of those named and blocking their access to global financial networks.

At the same time, the six Gulf members of the TFTC -- Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates -- declared sanctions on another nine individuals and firms part of or linked to Hezbollah that were already blacklisted by the US Treasury.

It was the second time the year-old TFTC came together to announce sanctions on groups they call threats to regional peace.

Last October, the group announced joint sanctions on top Islamic State and Al-Qaeda figures in Yemen.

"The TFTC again demonstrated its great value to international security by disrupting Iran and Hezbollah's destabilizing influence in the region," said US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in a statement.

"By targeting Hezbollah's Shura Council, our nations collectively rejected the false distinction between a so-called 'Political Wing' and Hezbollah's global terrorist plotting."

The move came 10 days after Hezbollah gave a strong showing in Lebanon's elections, garnering enough seats in parliament to block any attempt by its political foes to make it disarm its militia, which rivals the Lebanese army in size and firepower.

The announcement followed two US moves in the past week to put pressure on Iran's financial networks, including sanctions announced Tuesday that aimed at an alleged financial pipeline that moved "hundreds of millions of dollars" from Iran's central bank through an Iraqi bank to Hezbollah.

Coming after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal on May 8, the Treasury said Wednesdays actions are part of a efforts to go after "the totality of Iran's malign activities and regionally destabilizing behavior, including that of Hezbollah."</s>Netanyahu bot gets Facebook ‘hate speech’ suspension

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party was found on Thursday to have violated Facebook’s hate-speech policy after a post from his account saying Arabs “want to destroy us all.”

Israeli media reported that the post which said Israeli Arabs “want to destroy us all — women, children and men” appeared on Netanyahu’s official Facebook page and was subsequently removed by Likud.

“After careful review of the Likud campaign’s bot activities, we found a violation of our hate speech policy,” a Facebook statement said, referring to an automated chat function.

“We also found that the bot was misusing the platform in the time period allowed to contact people. As a result, we temporarily suspended the bot for 24 hours. Should there be any additional violations, we will continue to take appropriate action.”

A Likud spokesman told AFP that the freeze went into effect on Thursday morning and would not affect the party’s online election campaign.

FAST FACT Netanyahu has used similar tactics in the past, including warning on election day in 2015 that Israeli Arabs were voting in ‘droves,’ a comment for which he later apologized.

Netanyahu, who is fighting an election battle for his political survival, said the message had nothing to do with him.

“It wasn’t me. It was one of the workers at our election headquarters,” he told Israeli public

radio. “That mistake was fixed quickly.”

“Think logically: Do you think I would really write such a thing?“

“I have friends in Arab countries and I have respect for human beings regardless of whether they are Jewish or Arab, Muslim or Christian.”

Netanyahu has long faced accusations from critics that he has demonized Israel’s 1.4 million Arab citizens with his political rhetoric.

With the Sept. 17 vote looming, he and Likud drew outrage from opposition parties with a push for last-minute legislation that would allow party officials to bring cameras to polling stations.

His critics labelled it a naked attempt to depress turnout among Israel’s Arab population, as it could intimidate many into staying away.

Netanyahu has used similar tactics in the past, including warning on election day in 2015 that Israeli Arabs were voting in “droves,” a comment for which he later apologized.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Qatar and its adversaries in the Persian Gulf crisis have finally agreed to do something together: join the U.S. in placing terror sanctions on the Iranian ally Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations are slapping sanctions on Hezbollah's senior leadership. The sanctions are being coordinated by a U.S.-Gulf partnership called the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center.

The group was formed last May. Shortly thereafter, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties to Qatar and moved to isolate it economically. The spat has remained in a stalemate despite intermittent attempts by the U.S. to mediate or to hasten a resolution.

Most of the Hezbollah officials were already under heavy U.S. sanctions, so the actions will have limited practical implication in the United States. The Trump administration has been targeting Lebanese Hezbollah to increase pressure on its patron, Iran, following President Donald Trump's withdrawal last week from the Iran nuclear deal.

The sanctions come the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Qatar's foreign minister and urged a quick end to the Gulf dispute. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the Trump administration's commitment to working with all the Gulf nations to ensure sanctions are "fully enforced" and prevent the nations' financial systems from being exploited by terrorists.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Gulf partners imposed additional sanctions on Lebanon’s Hezbollah leadership on Wednesday, targeting its top two officials, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem.

The U.S. Treasury Department said four other individuals were also sanctioned, as was the group ISIS in the Greater Sahara, which was designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

It was the third round of sanctions announced by Washington since the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal last week.

Wednesday’s sanctions targeted members of the primary decision-making body of Hezbollah, Treasury said in a statement.

“By targeting Hezbollah’s Shura Council, our nations collectively rejected the false distinction between a so-called ‘Political Wing’ and Hezbollah’s global terrorist plotting,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

The move expands U.S. sanctions against Nasrallah, who was sanctioned by Washington in 1995 for threatening to disrupt the Middle East peace process and again in 2012 over Syria. It is, however, the first time that the U.S. Treasury has acted against Qassem, who is being listed for his ties to Hezbollah.

The measures were imposed jointly by Washington and its partners in the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center (TFTC), which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, it said.

The Gulf states targeted four of the movement’s committees and ordered individuals’ assets and bank accounts frozen.

A number of those targeted by the TFTC had been previously blacklisted by the United States.

Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Ali Thani, discussed Qatar’s efforts to counter terrorism financing, the State Department said.

Nasrallah last year dismissed the prospect of tougher U.S. sanctions against his group.

“The American administration, with all available and possible means, will not be able to damage the strength of the resistance,” Nasrallah said on Aug.13 in a televised address to mark the anniversary of the end of Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel.

Shi’ite Hezbollah was formed to combat Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of Lebanon. It and its political allies made significant gains in Lebanon’s parliamentary election earlier this month, boosting an Iranian-backed movement fiercely opposed to Israel and underlining Tehran’s growing regional clout.

The Trump administration has sought in recent days to choke off funding for Iran’s overseas operations, including its backing for Hezbollah, in what Washington says are its malign activities in the Middle East.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Iran’s central bank governor and an Iraq-based bank for funneling millions of dollars on behalf of Iran’s elite revolutionary guards.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against six individuals and three companies it said were funneling millions of dollars to the Revolutionary Guard’s external arm, Quds Force.</s>Qatar and its adversaries in the Persian Gulf crisis have finally agreed to do something together: join the U.S. in placing terror sanctions on the Iranian ally Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations are slapping sanctions on Hezbollah's senior leadership. The sanctions are being coordinated by a U.S.-Gulf partnership called the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center.

The group was formed last May. Shortly thereafter, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties to Qatar and moved to isolate it economically. The spat has remained in a stalemate despite intermittent attempts by the U.S. to mediate or to hasten a resolution.

Most of the Hezbollah officials were already under heavy U.S. sanctions, so the actions will have limited practical implication in the United States. The Trump administration has been targeting Lebanese Hezbollah to increase pressure on its patron, Iran, following President Donald Trump's withdrawal last week from the Iran nuclear deal.

The sanctions come the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Qatar's foreign minister and urged a quick end to the Gulf dispute. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the Trump administration's commitment to working with all the Gulf nations to ensure sanctions are "fully enforced" and prevent the nations' financial systems from being exploited by terrorists.
The United States and six Arab states of the Persian Gulf add more sanctions on Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem.