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 JTA
Palestinian Fatah al-Islam 370 (photo credit: Reuters)
Palestinian 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".