The Muslim Brotherhood's Lebanon branch, the Islamic Group (Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyah), has rejected a US decision designating it a terrorist organisation, saying the move is a political act by Washington that will have no legal or political consequences inside Lebanon.
The group said Wednesday that the decision by US President Donald Trump's administration was "administrative and political in nature", did not rely on any Lebanese or international judicial ruling, and served "Israeli interests" by distorting the image of active Lebanese political and social forces at a sensitive moment for the region.
The response follows Washington's decision a day earlier to impose sanctions on three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, treating the Lebanese branch more severely than its counterparts.
The US State Department designated the Lebanese branch as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), the most serious classification under US law. At the same time, the US Treasury listed the Brotherhood's branches in Egypt and Jordan as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entities under Executive Order 13224.
US officials said the distinction reflects direct involvement by the Lebanese branch in "armed activity", as opposed to indirect financial or logistical support in the cases of Egypt and Jordan.
According to State Department documents, the Islamic Group reactivated its armed wing, the Fajr Forces, following Israel's October 2023 war on Gaza, and launched rockets from southern Lebanon towards Israel in coordination with Hamas and Hezbollah.
The department also cited Israeli strikes in 2024 on Fajr Forces members allegedly preparing attacks, and said the Lebanese army had dismantled a covert training camp in July 2025 involving fighters linked to the group and Hamas.
In addition to the FTO designation, Washington also classified the group as an SDGT entity and added its secretary general, Muhammad Faqzi Taqqosh, to its global terrorism list.
Under US law, an FTO designation makes membership, funding or cooperation a federal criminal offence and bars members from entering the United States. SDGT listings, by contrast, focus on freezing assets and blocking transactions under US jurisdiction without criminalising membership.
The Islamic Group in Lebanon is a Sunni Islamist political party founded in 1964 as the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is legally registered and represented in parliament by a single seat held by MP Imad al-Hout.
The group acknowledged that its armed wing had carried out operations against Israeli military positions after the opening of a "Gaza support front" on 8 October 2023, but said these actions were responses to Israeli strikes on civilians and journalists in southern Lebanon.
It said Israel has killed more than 30 of its members and leaders since then in air strikes in western Bekaa and the Arqoub region of southern Lebanon.
No official Lebanese government position has been issued so far on the US designation, but a government source told The New Arab's Arabic edition that the decision was an American one and reiterated Lebanon's stance that weapons should be exclusively in the hands of the state and that decisions of war and peace must remain with state institutions.
Regional reactions
In Jordan, government spokesperson Mohammad al Momani said authorities had taken note of the US decision but stressed that the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan had effectively ceased to exist.
He said the group was considered dissolved following a court ruling in 2020 and that all its activities were banned in April 2025, adding that Amman deals with such matters "strictly in line with the constitution and national law".
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government, which is strongly opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, welcomed the US designation of the country's branch. The Egyptian foreign ministry stated the move confirmed the group's "extremist ideology" and the "threat it poses to regional and international security", saying the decision was consistent with Cairo's long-held position.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the sanctions as an initial step in a broader effort to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood's capabilities worldwide.
He said the designations had marked the beginning of a sustained campaign to counter "violence and destabilisation" linked to Brotherhood branches.
The decision follows a review ordered by Trump in November, directing US agencies to assess whether specific Brotherhood branches should be designated as terrorist organisations, explicitly naming those in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan.
The Islamic Group's deputy political bureau chief, Bassem Hamoud, said the designation had reflected a pattern of politically-motivated US measures taken outside recognised legal frameworks.
He said the group would continue to participate in Lebanon's parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2026 and urged media and political actors to handle the issue responsibly, without escalation or political exploitation.