U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a news conference with other law enforcement officials to announce enforcement efforts against Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) at the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., October 16, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Oct. 15 that Department of Justice (DOJ) is listing Hezbollah as a top five transnational organized crime threat that will be targeted with the creation of a new DOJ task force.
According to the DOJ’s website, Sessions listed Hezbollah, the international gang MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and the Clan del Golfo cartel as the top transnational organized crime threats the United States faces. Sessions added that a task force addressing transnational organized crime would be headed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to confront these organizations.
“The subcommittee on Lebanese Hezbollah will be led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilan Graff of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,” Sessions said. “AUSA Graff is overseeing the prosecution of two alleged members of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization, the first such operatives to be charged with terrorism offenses in the United States.”
Sessions added, “This subcommittee will be led and staffed by members of the Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team, which is a group I created in January.”
In May, the U.S. Treasury Department levied sanctions against Hezbollah’s Shura Council, which is the decision-making body for the Shia terror group. For more on Hezbollah, read Jewish Virtual Library’s background on them here.
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