US Offers Rewards for 2 Hezbollah Senior Military Commanders

A multi-million dollar reward was announced for tips leading to the capture of two Hezbollah senior officials, as the US believes that the Lebanese movement is determined to develop attack capability inside the country.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will offer multi-million dollar rewards for information leading to the arrest of two senior Hezbollah military commanders, US Department of State Coordinator for Counterterrorism Nathan Sales told reporters on Tuesday.

"Today, I am announcing rewards for two senior Hezbollah leaders under the State Department's Rewards for Justice Program. First, the department is offering a reward of up to $7 million for information that leads to the location, arrest or conviction in any country of Talal Hammiyeh," Sales said. "We're also offering a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to location, arrest or conviction in any country of Fouad Shukr."

For the first time in ~a decade, the State Dept is offering reward money for Hezbollah leaders. Here's the new Wanted Poster: pic.twitter.com/nzUmmYsYRf

— Robbie Gramer (@RobbieGramer) October 10, 2017

National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas Rasmussen claimed that the Lebanese group Hezbollah was determined to give itself an option to attack inside the United States.

"We in the intelligence community do continue to see activity on behalf of Hezbollah here inside the homeland," Rasmussen said. "It's our assessment that Hezbollah is determined to give itself a potential homeland option as a critical component of its terrorism playbook."

Hezbollah is a Shia islamist movement based in Lebanon. Since 2012 Hezbollah militants are fighting on the side of the government armed forces in Syrian civil war. The movement is classified as a terrorist organization in the US, Israel, the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council.