U.S. designates Hasm, Lewaa al-Thawra as global terrorists

CAIRO – 31 January 2018: The United States announced on Wednesday listing the so-called Hasm group and Lewaa al-Thawra, which publicly announced their affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood and operate in Egypt, on the Specially Designated Global Terrorists blacklist.

According to the State Department’s statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson emphasized that “these designations target key terrorist groups and leaders – including two sponsored and directed by Iran – who are threatening the stability of the Middle East, undermining the peace process, and attacking our allies Egypt and Israel. Today’s actions are an important step in denying them the resources they need to plan and carry out their terrorist activities.”

Lewaa al-Thawra is a terrorist group active in Egypt’s Qalyubia and Menoufia governorates. After announcing its formation in August 2016, the group claimed responsibility for the October 2016 assassination of Brigadier General Adel Ragai, commander of the Egyptian army’s Ninth Armored Division, outside his home in Cairo. In 2017, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing outside a police training center in Tanta, the State Department said in a statement.

It added that Hasm is a terrorist group also active in Egypt. Formed in 2015, the group claimed responsibility for the assassination of Egyptian National Security Agency officer Ibrahim Azzazy, as well as the attempted assassination of Egypt’s former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa. Hasm also claimed responsibility for a September 30, 2017 attack on Myanmar’s embassy in Cairo. Some of the leaders of the violent groups were previously associated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

The Department of State also announced it has designated former Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with Palestinian group Harakat al-Sabireen, to the terror blacklist.

“Haniyeh has close links with Hamas’ military wing and has been a proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians. He has reportedly been involved in terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. Hamas has been responsible for an estimated 17 American lives killed in terrorist attacks,” the State Department said in the statement.

As for Harakat al-Sabireen, the statement read that “it is an Iranian-backed terrorist group established in 2014. The group operates primarily in Gaza and the West Bank and is led by Hisham Salem, a former leader of the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a State Department designated FTO and SDGT. Harakat al-Sabireen carried out terrorist activities targeting Israel, pursuing an anti-American agenda.”

Terrorism designations expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and deny them access to the U.S. financial system. Moreover, designations can assist the law enforcement activities of U.S. agencies and other governments.

At the end of 2017, the UK announced that it added Hasm and Lewaa al-Thawra to its list of proscribed terrorist organizations.

On February 2017, an Egyptian court of urgent matters designated Hasm a terrorist organization, banning its activity in the country.