US offers up to $7M reward for Hezbollah leader

By Rabia İclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US offered a reward of up to $7 million Tuesday for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction of Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil.

The announcement by the State Department came on the 40th anniversary of Hezbollah’s bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.

Aqil, also known as Tahsin, serves on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, the State Department said.

Also on Tuesday, the Department of State and the Department of Treasury announced new sanctions targeting the network that facilitates the payment, shipment and delivery of cash, art and luxury goods for the benefit of alleged Hezbollah financier Nazem Said Ahmad.

"The Treasury Department is designating this network and the State Department is re-advertising its reward offer of up to $10 million for information on Hezbollah’s financial mechanisms, including Ahmad," the State Department said in a separate statement.

On Oct. 8, 1997, the State Department designated Hezbollah as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization," while it designated Hezbollah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on Oct. 31, 2001.