The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on seven Lebanese nationals over their ties to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, designating them as global terrorists.
The department said in a statement on its website, seen by Al-Hal Net, that: “The U.S. sanctions included Izzat Akar, from the town of Khiam in the Nabatieh Governorate in southern Lebanon; Hassan Othman, from the town of Harouf; Hezbollah Central Finance Unit official Ibrahim Ali Daher; Ahmad Mohammad Yazbek, from the town of Kfar Sir; as well as Wahid Sbaiti, Abbas Gharib, and Mustafa Harb.”
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) listed the seven individuals because of their ties to Hezbollah and its financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which OFAC designated in 2007 and which Hezbollah uses as a cover to manage its financial activities and gain access to the international financial system.
The department said: “The Al-Qard Al-Hassan institution claims to serve the Lebanese people, but in practice it transfers money illicitly through fictitious accounts and facilitators, exposing Lebanese financial institutions to potential sanctions.”
The U.S. Department of Justice indicated that a Lebanese-American woman had admitted to laundering money for Hezbollah for 10 years.
According to a previous BBC Arabic report, Hezbollah usually uses charitable associations as a cover for its activities abroad and to move suspicious funds, which often come from illegal sources such as drug and arms trafficking.
The United States designated the Iran-backed Hezbollah a terrorist group on October 31, 2001, and imposed sanctions on many of its members. On May 16, 2018, it imposed sanctions on the party’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy, Naim Qassem.
Such a step freezes any assets in the United States belonging to those placed on the blacklist and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.
The department said: “Those who engage in certain transactions with individuals on the blacklist may also be subject to sanctions.”
Previously, the U.S. Department of the Treasury specifically designated Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah for committing and directing acts of violence against coalition forces and Iraqi security forces, and for posing a significant risk of committing terrorist acts.
In August 2020, the United States took control of the website of Al-Ittijah TV, saying it had been a media arm of the Kataib Hezbollah militia.
