Two senior leaders of al-Nusra Front (ANF) in Syria, now calling itself Fatah al-Sham Front, have been added to the US sanctions blacklist, AFP reported Thursday (February 23rd).

As of a year ago, Iyad Nazmi Salih Khalil was ANF's third-highest ranking person and its "emir" for coastal Syria, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

Before that, he "empowered ANF's security and intelligence operatives responsible for assassinations, ran prisons notorious for torture, and encouraged the looting of vehicles and possessions of Free Syrian Army members", the statement said.

The second man, Bassam Ahmad al-Hasri, is alleged to be a longstanding link between ANF and al-Qaeda and is ANF's "emir" in Dara.

"From overseeing militant operations to developing ANF's strategy, these senior ANF leaders and al-Qaeda terrorists are responsible for providing key support to the violent terrorist group," said John Smith, acting director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The sanctions, which follow similar UN actions against the pair, aim to freeze their assets, lock them out of the global financial system, and prevent them from travelling internationally.