US sanctions Lebanese network over alleged oil, LPG smuggling for Hezbollah
Treasury Department targets three individuals, five companies and a number of tankers it says are involved in fundraising for terror group
WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden’s administration issued sanctions Wednesday on a Lebanese network it accused of smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to help fund the Hezbollah terror group.
The sanctions targeted three people, five companies and two vessels which the US Treasury Department said were overseen by a senior leader of Hezbollah’s finance team and used profits from illicit LPG shipments to Syria to aid generate revenue for the group.
Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith, in a statement, said Hezbollah “continues to launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability, choosing to prioritize funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon.”
The Treasury statement named the individuals as Hezbollah official Muhammad Ibrahim Habib al-Sayyid and Lebanese businessmen Ali Nayef Zgheib and Boutros Georges Obeid, who have all “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Hezbollah.”
Five companies linked to the three men were also slapped with US sanctions, as were a number of oil tankers involved in delivering gas to Baniyas port in Syria.
Matthew Miller, the spokesman for the US State Department, said Wednesday’s sanctions were part of overall efforts to disrupt Hezbollah’s “illicit revenue generation and isolate the terrorist group’s financial network,” adding that the US “will not waver” in pursuing the terror group.
Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and ongoing fighting against Hezbollah in the north, the US has sanctioned a large number of entities involved in funding and financing Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other groups.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 436 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and more than 130 civilians have also been reported killed.
