US creates task force to target Hizballah

Sessions designated the five groups as top transnational organised crime threats and said the new task force will "develop a plan to take each of these groups off of our streets for good".

The groups include Hizballah, which the US considers a terrorist organisation, MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Clan del Golf.

The task force will allow federal prosecutors to better target priority organisations and make prosecutions "more effective", the attorney general said.

As part of initiative, prosecutors will lead specialised subcommittees focusing on each of the organisations and will report back to Sessions within 90 days on the best ways to prosecute the groups, he said.

The group focusing on Hizballah will include prosecutors who specialise in narcotics trafficking, terrorism and organised crime and will also investigate anyone providing support for the organisation, Sessions said.

Formed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in 1982 to fight Israel's invasion of Beirut, Hizballah has become a powerful political player in Lebanon, running its own media and communication channels and providing government-like services to followers in its strongholds.

The US has previously hit the group with sanctions.