US sanctions Ethiopian hardliners, Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese officials

The United States has sanctioned certain Tigray People’s Liberation Front, TPLF, hardliners, whose actions against the Ethiopian government threaten to reignite fighting in the country’s north and undermine regional peace and security.

The State Department on Thursday announced Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on TPLF extremists, their family members, and others complicit in the Tigray crisis.

Washington reiterated its solidarity with the Ethiopian and Tigray peoples, vowing to use all tools available to expose and promote accountability for individuals working against stability in the region.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, a powerful ethnic-nationalist political party, is at the center of an upheaval that endangers the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which ended a brutal two-year conflict.

TPLF’s loss of grip on national power in 2018 and tensions with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government led to the civil war that claimed 600,000 lives and brought Tigray to the brink of famine.

Earlier this year, Tigray Security Forces, TSF, clashed with Ethiopian National Defense Forces, ENDF, their first major confrontation since the cessation of the 2020-2022 hostilities.

Meanwhile, the United States has designated two Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese officials, as well as members of a Hezbollah business web supervised by U.S.-designated Alaa Hassan Hamieh.

The officials are accused of supporting a terrorist organization and using their influence to “deliberately and systematically undermine the authority of the Lebanese state.”

Washington says activities that prevent the Lebanese government from exercising national control compromise its sovereignty, and entrench parallel power that weakens Lebanon at the Middle East’s expense.

Also designated are more associates of Alaa Hamieh and his network in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Oman who raise funds, execute contracts, and operate front companies to generate revenue for Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah puts Iran, not Lebanon, first,” the Statement Department noted. “Hezbollah is the single biggest obstacle to Lebanon’s recovery and future, and holds the state hostage to a permanent state of conflict.”