US imposes sanctions on Hezbollah top leader

The United States on Friday slapped sanctions on a top leader of the terror group Hezbollah Salman Raouf Salman, accused to the bombings in the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994.

"This Administration will continue to target Hizballah terrorists who plot horrific murderous operations and indiscriminately kill innocent civilians on behalf of this violent group and its Iranian patrons. We are targeting Salman Raouf Salman, who coordinated a devastating attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina against the largest Jewish centre in South America 25 years ago and has directed terrorist operations in the Western Hemisphere for Hizballah ever since," said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in a statement.

"The United States will continue to work with the Government of Argentina, and our friends throughout the region and the world, to ensure that Hizballah operatives can never disassociate themselves from their terrorist actions, and to prevent them from carrying out new attacks that enable Iran's malign agenda," he added.

Salman is a senior leader of Hizballah operating in Lebanon. The United States has accused him of the 1994 attack in on the community centre for the largest Jewish community in South America, which killed 85 innocent people and wounded hundreds more.

The US Treasury Department has said that it continues to "prioritise disruption" of the full range of Hizballah's illicit financial and facilitation activities.