A demonstration by al-Jamaa al-Islamiya activists in 2016 in Beirut. (Archive photo by AFP)
The United States announced Tuesday a series of major designations targeting several branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region, classifying them either as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) or as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).
The decision notably concerns the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, represented in Parliament by MP Imad Hout. The Brotherhood branches in Jordan and Egypt were also designated.
Being classified as an FTO allows, in addition to the political pressure it entails, the implementation of financial and administrative measures such as asset freezes, bans on transactions, or prohibitions on entry to U.S. territory.
"These designations reflect the first steps in an ongoing and sustained effort to counter violence and destabilization by branches of the Muslim Brotherhood wherever they are found," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. "The United States will use all means at its disposal to deprive these Brotherhood branches of the resources needed to engage in or support terrorism," he added.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in November to trigger this designation process. At the time, he accused the Brotherhood of "committing or encouraging and supporting campaigns of violence and destabilization that harm their own regions, U.S. citizens, or U.S. interests."
According to the State Department, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya is now designated as both an FTO and an SDGT. Its secretary-general, Sheikh Mohammad Takkouch, has also been individually designated as an SDGT.
Washington pointed to a series of actions attributed to the movement following Oct. 7, 2023, to justify these most recent designations.
For instance, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya reactivated its armed wing, the Dawn Forces, to join Hezbollah's "support front" for Hamas from southern Lebanon after Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
This rapprochement with Hezbollah and the pro-Iranian axis meant the group did not capitalize on regional changes (notably the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in Syria) and the vacuum left by the withdrawal of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to assert itself as an important Sunni player in Lebanon. Last year, as part of its efforts to reclaim the monopoly on arms, the Lebanese Army reportedly dismantled a clandestine military training camp involving al-Jamaa fighters.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and Egypt, accusing them of providing material support to Hamas. The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational organization with a presence in many countries, has long been the main opposition movement in Egypt (where it was founded in 1928), despite decades of repression.
Today, Egypt considers the Brotherhood a "terrorist" organization, and erased the group from the political landscape after the brief one-year term (2012-2013) of one of its own, the former elected President Mohammad Morsi, who died in prison in 2019. The Brotherhood promotes a conservative agenda of political Islam and has been banned in several countries, including Saudi Arabia.
These designations are part of a broader approach targeting the ideological and logistical ecosystem of the Muslim Brotherhood, which U.S. authorities describe as a "transnational nebula that has spawned or supported several jihadist groups over the past decades."
In its information sheet, the State Department notes that several organizations derived from or inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood have already been designated as terrorist by the United States, including Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
This article originally appeared in French on L'Orient-Le Jour.
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