US adds al-Qaida-linked Palestinian to list of terrorists
State Department designates Usamah Amin al-Shihabi as associate of Lebanese-based militant group Fatah al-Islam.
By JTAPalestinian Fatah al-Islam 370(photo credit: Reuters)
WASHINGTON — The US State Department added a Lebanon-based Palestinian Islamist linked to al-Qaida to its list of designated terrorists.A statement issued Wednesday by the State Department said Usamah Amin al-Shihabi was 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".Media reports have identified al-Shihabi as part of an al-Qaida vanguard in Lebanon and as having plotted attacks against Americans.According to the statement, designation as a terrorist include “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".
