This morning, the State Department designated former Lebanese parliament member, and longtime ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Michel Samaha as a specially designated global terrorist. Treasury also designated Samaha for “undermining Lebanon’s democratic processes or institutions, contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon, supporting the reassertion of Syrian control or otherwise contributing to Syrian interference in Lebanon, or infringing upon or undermining Lebanese sovereignty.”

The designations “block all of Samaha’s property interests subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with or for the benefit of Samaha,” but it’s not obvious what, if any, practical effect the actions will have on a private individual. The purpose, rather, is to underscore Samaha’s role in sowing chaos throughout the Levant the last several years. It should also highlight the depravity of New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh, who over the years became cozy with the former minister of information—a terrorist, whose fictitious narratives Hersh used to spin conspiracy theories thrashing Bush administration officials.