From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Lebanese man accused of funneling money from Iran to Hamas found shot to death
A Lebanese man under US sanctions for allegedly funneling money from Iran to Hamas has been killed just outside Beirut, a security source tells AFP.
The body of Mohammad Sarur was found Tuesday in a villa in the mountain town of Beit Mery, the source says, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
He had been struck by more than five bullets and was found in possession of an undisclosed sum of money that the killers did not touch, the source adds.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported late Tuesday that the body of a 57-year-old Lebanese man, identified by initials that correspond to Sarur’s, had been found in an area near Beit Mery.
The security source confirms to AFP that Sarur worked for financial institutions belonging to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
In August 2019, the US Treasury announced sanctions against several people including Sarur, accusing them of funneling “tens of millions of dollars” from the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards through Hezbollah in Lebanon “to Hamas for terrorist attacks originating from the Gaza Strip.”
The Treasury said Sarur “served as a middleman” between the Guards’ Quds Force and Hamas “and worked with Hezbollah operatives to ensure funds were provided” to Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz-a-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
“As of 2014, Sarur was identified as in charge of all money transfers” between the Quds Force and the Qassam Brigades, the Treasury added.
