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BLA and Hezbollah man designated as global terrorists by U.S.

Jul 3, 2019

WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. State Department on Tuesday formally designated the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Hezbollah operative Husain Ali Hazzima as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

Additionally, the department has amended the terrorist designations of Jundallah to reflect the group’s new primary name Jaysh al-Adl and associated aliases. These aliases have been added to the group’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The Department has also reviewed and maintained the designation of Jundallah.

Tuesday’s actions, the State department says, seek to deny Hazzima, BLA, and Jaysh al-Adl the resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks. All of their property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.

Husain Ali Hazzima is the Chief of Hezbollah Unit 200. The Lebanese resistance group was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group in 2001. Unit 200 is the Intelligence Unit of Hezbollah, and it analyzes and assesses information collected by the group’s military units.

BLA, the State department says, is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan. BLA, says the department, has carried out several terrorist attacks in the past year, including a suicide attack in August 2018 that targeted Chinese engineers in Balochistan, a November 2018 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, and a May 2019 attack against a luxury hotel in Gwadar, Balochistan.

Jundallah, which was designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 2010, began using the new name Jaysh al-Adl and associated aliases in 2012. Since its inception, the State Department says, the group has engaged in numerous attacks that have killed scores of Iranian civilians and government officials, including a February 2019 suicide bombing and the October 2018 kidnapping of Iranian security personnel.

Tuesday’s actions, the U.S. State Department says, puts the U.S. public and the international community on notice that in its view Hazzima and BLA have committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism, and that Jundallah, having adopted the new name Jaysh al-Adl, continues to engage in terrorism that threatens the national security of the United States.

The State Department’s statement said that terrorist designations expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and deny them access to the U.S. financial system. Moreover, the department says, designations can assist the law enforcement activities of U.S. agencies and other governments.

A list of State Department-designated individuals and entities is available here.

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