The United States said Tuesday it has placed a suspected Saudi member of a Islamist militant group based in Lebanon on its list of international terrorists. The State Department said it had designated Ibrahim Suleiman Hamad Al-Hablain, known as Abu Jabal, a "specially designated global terrorist," a classification that bars Americans from doing business with him or on his behalf.
It said Al-Hablain was an explosives expert for the "Brigades of Abdallah Azzam," a Lebanon-based militant group that has taken credit for firing rockets into Israel. According to press reports, it also took responsibility for a July 2010 explosion on a Japanese oil tanker, the M Star. Saudi Arabia has requested Al-Hablain's extradition and he has been sought by Interpol since 2009 for "activities related to terrorism."