The US added three of Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s West African brigades to its lists of terrorist organizations: the al-Mulathameen Brigade, the al Mua’qi’oon Biddam [the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade], and the al-Murabitoon Brigade. The US also added added Usamah Amin al Shihabi, the head of the Al Nusrah Front in Lebanon, to the list of specially designated global terrorists. Guantanamo detainees Saad Muhammad Husayn Qahtani and Hamood Abdulla Hamood were transferred to Saudi Arabia on Dec. 16. The FBI added Ahmad Abousamra, a Syrian man from Boston, Mass., to its most-wanted list; the alleged co-conspirator with convicted terrorist Terek Mehanna sought terrorist training overseas with the aim of killing US soldiers, and may now be in Aleppo, Syria. The US is urging the UN to condemn violence in Syria. The US ambassador to Syria called the Islamic Front’s recent takeover of facilities and weapons belonging to the Syrian rebels’ Supreme Military Council “an extremely negative development” but said the US is willing to talk with the Islamic Front.
