U.S. Adds Hizballah To Syria Sanctions List

Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah (right) meets with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Beirut in 2010.

WASHINGTON -- The United States has added the Iran-backed militant group Hizballah to its list of organizations sanctioned for ties to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A Treasury Department statement says the designation highlights the Lebanon-based group's "integral role in the continued violence the Assad regime is inflicting on the Syrian population," including the provision of "training, advice, and extensive logistical support."

The department also says Hizballah, designated by Washington as a terrorist organization since 1995, has coordinated its support to Assad with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force.

U.S. Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said, "Long after the Assad regime is gone, the people of Syria and the entire global community will remember that Hizballah, and its patron Iran, contributed to the regime's murder of countless innocent Syrians."

With reporting by AFP