Date: Sep 12, 2019 Source: The Daily Star U.S. issues new sanctions on four Hezbollah members BEIRUT: The United States has issued sanctions against four members of Hezbollah, including a man close to the party’s leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. A statement issued by the State Department said that President Donald Trump Tuesday signed an executive order “modernizing and strengthening sanctions authorities to combat terrorism.” The sanctions designated leaders of groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, Daesh (ISIS) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorists. Those subject to the new sanctions include Lebanese nationals and senior members of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, Ali Karakeh, Mohammad Haydar, Ibrahim Aqil and Fouad Shukr, whom the statement said is a senior military adviser to Nasrallah and played a “central role” in a 1983 attack on U.S. troops in Beirut that killed 241 people. Hezbollah has not yet commented on the new sanctions. The State Department statement said that the order, which came on the eve of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was the “most significant update of terrorist designation authorities since [their] aftermath.” The Trump administration has ramped up sanctions on Hezbollah and other Iran-affiliated groups since the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018. Last month, the U.S. Treasury slapped sanctions on the Lebanese Jammal Trust Bank for “brazenly enabling” Hezbollah’s financial activities. And in June, the Treasury took the unprecedented step of sanctioning two sitting Hezbollah MPs, Amin Sharri and Mohammad Raad, alongside security head Wafiq Safa.