US blacklists two Hezbollah ‘money launderers’

The US Treasury said Thursday that it has added two Lebanese men to its sanctions blacklist for laundering money for the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah.

The Treasury said Mohamad Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine worked through Noureddine’s Beirut company Trade Point International to move money for Hezbollah-linked businesses and individuals already on US blacklists.

“Noureddine has utilized an extensive network across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East to provide money laundering, bulk cash shipment, black market currency exchange, and other financial services to a variety of clients, including Hezbollah members,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Hamdi Zaher El Dine was an employee of Trade Point.

Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group and political party, has been officially designated as a terrorist group by the United States since 1997.

Being designated for sanctions allows the Treasury to freeze any assets on US territory tied to the individuals, and forbids any Americans or US institutions from doing business with them.

In July, the US Treasury added three Hezbollah military officials and a businessman tied to the group to the blacklist, citing their support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Treasury named Mustafa Badr Al Din, said to be in charge of Hezbollah’s military operations in Syria; and Fu’ad Shukr and Ibrahim Aqil, both members of Hezbollah’s top military body, the Jihad Council, and both involved in the group’s military activities in Syria, in support of the Assad regime.

Also named was Abd al Nur Shalan, which the US called the “point person for the procurement and transshipment of weapons and materiel for (Hezbollah) and its Syrian partners for at least 15 years.”