Osama bin Laden's son Hamza designated 'global terrorist' by United States

Washington: The United States on Thursday designated al Qaeda leader Hamza bin Laden as a 'global terrorist'.

He is the son of the terror group's slain leader Osama bin Laden. 

Nearly year and a half ago, Hamza, who is in his mid-twenties, was officially announced by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri as an official member of the group.

He has become active as an al Qaeda propagandist since his father's death in 2011.

The designation by the State Department imposes sanctions on foreign persons determined to have committed, or pose a serious risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

As a result of this designation, all property subject to US jurisdiction in which Hamza has any interest is blocked and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him.

The State Department said on July 9, 2016, al Qaeda issued another audio message from Hamza bin Laden threatening revenge against the United States and warned Americans they would be targeted in the United States and abroad.

"In 2015, (Hamza) bin Laden called for lone offender attacks against US, French and Israeli interests in Washington, DC, Paris, France, and Tel Aviv, Israel. Additionally, in 2016, (Hamza) bin Laden called on Saudi Arabian-based tribes to unite with al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen to wage war against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the State Department said, as per PTI.

Simultaneously, the State Department also designated Ibrahim al-Banna, a senior member of al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Al-Banna has served as AQAP security chief and provided military and security guidance to AQAP leadership.

A 2010 edition of AQAP's English online magazine, Inspire, contained an article by al-Banna describing the 9/11 attack as virtuous and threatened to target Americans both domestically and elsewhere, in response to US actions overseas, the State Department said.

Before joining AQAP, al-Banna was a leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Yemen from 1996 to 1998 and subsequently was in-charge of the training and intelligence sectors for the group.

About Osama:

Osama founded al Qaeda in 1988, which claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States. He was a Saudi Arabian and member of the wealthy bin Laden family and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.

Osama was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of ten most wanted fugitives and most wanted terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings.

The FBI had placed a $25 million bounty on him in their search for him. On May 2, 2011, he was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad during a covert operation conducted by members of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and Central Intelligence Agency SAD/SOG operators.

(With Agency inputs)