Dubai: Saudi Arabia has designated two senior officials of the Lebanese Hezbollah group as terrorists, alleging their involvement in spreading “chaos and instability”, state news agency SPA said on Wednesday.
SPA identified one as Khalil Youssuf Harb and said he was a military commander in charge of Hezbollah’s activities in Yemen.
SPA named the second as Mohammad Qabalan and said he had been convicted by an Egyptian court in absentia in 2010 for activities in the country.
The agency said the kingdom had imposed financial sanctions on the two, including freezing their assets and banning Saudis from any dealings with them.
Hezbollah could not immediately be reached for comment.
“As long as Hezbollah seeks to spread chaos and instability and carries out terrorist attacks and carries out criminal and illegal activity around the world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue to designate activists and leader and entities of Hezbollah and impose sanctions on them,” a statement said.
The Saudi Interior Ministry in March last year designated several Islamist organisations based in the kingdom and abroad, including the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, as terrorist organisations.
