US State Department designates Hurras al-Din leader as terrorist

On Tuesday, the United States State Department designated the leader of the terrorist group Hurras al-Din (HaD), Sami Mahmud Mohammed al Uraydi, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. 

The HaD group is a jihadist al-Qaida affiliate and operates in Syria. It was formed in 2018 as a merger of seven Syrian rebel factions and was active in the Syrian civil war. 

The U.S. State Department made it clear that groups such as Hurras al-Din “are responsible for killings, kidnappings, and violence targeting of members of religious minority groups.”

The State Department offered a reward of up to $5 million for any information that might lead to the identification or location of al-Uraydi and blocked all property and interests of the terrorist in areas under U.S. jurisdiction. 

Syria is still the focal point of much international terrorism and chaos. The Iranian regime, which is the world’s leading terrorist sponsor, invests considerable resources in entrenching itself militarily in Syria on Israel’s northern border. Israel regularly bombs Iran-affiliated terrorist targets across Syria. 

In early April, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military advisor Maqdad Mehghani died in an aerial attack attributed to the Israeli Air Force. 

“Meqdad Mehghani was wounded during the Zionist attack on Friday dawn and was martyred,” wrote the Mehr News Agency. 

In late March, the U.S. military launched a military strike against Iran-affiliated militias in Syria after an Iranian drone reportedly killed a U.S. contractor in the war-torn country. 

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin told the media that the Biden administration would defend U.S. citizens and interests in the region. 

“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” said Austin.