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US Offers Reward for Top Hezbollah Leader

The US Department of State building is seen in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (AFP via Getty Images)
The US Department of State building is seen in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (AFP via Getty Images)
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US Offers Reward for Top Hezbollah Leader

The US Department of State building is seen in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (AFP via Getty Images)
The US Department of State building is seen in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (AFP via Getty Images)

The United States has offered a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil, the State Department said on Tuesday.

Ibrahim Aqil, also known as Tahsin, serves on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, the State Department said.

The award was offered on the 40th anniversary of Hezbollah’s bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut.

In the UK, a diamond and art dealer was sanctioned Tuesday by the British government for allegedly funding Hezbollah.

The Treasury said it froze Nazem Ahmad's assets in the UK because he financed the Iranian-backed organization that has been designated an international terrorist group. Under the sanctions, no one in the UK will be able to do business with Ahmad or his businesses.

“The firm action we have taken today will clamp down on those who are funding international terrorism,” said Joanna Penn, treasury minister. She said the move would strengthen the UK's economic and national security.

Ahmad was similarly sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which alleged he was a “prominent Lebanon-based money launderer and significant Hezbollah financier.” It also said he was involved in smuggling “blood diamonds,” which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence.

A Beirut art gallery the UK government identified as belonging to Ahmad did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.