US sanctions Hezbollah finance network

The US Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions against five individuals and three companies accused of operating within a sanctions evasion network that supports Hezbollah's financial operations.

According to the Treasury, the targets are linked to an illicit system that aids Hezbollah in circumventing international restrictions.

"These evasion networks strengthen Iran and its proxy Hezbollah and undermine the courageous efforts of the Lebanese people to build a Lebanon for all its citizens," stated Bradley Smith of the Treasury Department.

The sanctioned individuals include Rashid Qasim al-Bazzal, Mahasin Mahmud Murtada, Fatimah 'Abdallah Ayyub, Hawra' 'Abdallah Ayyub, and Jamil Mohamad Khafaja.

The Treasury explained in a statement that "the individuals and companies designated today are part of a network of revenue-generating commercial enterprises owned or controlled" by Hezbollah.

The network is accused of facilitating and disguising oil sales for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) while granting Hezbollah "crucial access to the formal financial system," the statement added.

The three sanctioned companies—Ravee SARL, Lebanese United Group, and Securol Glass Curtains—are alleged to be owned or controlled by the blacklisted individuals.

The United States regularly sanctions Lebanese officials and entities linked to Hezbollah. In September of last year, it sanctioned one individual and four entities, and identified nine vessels as blocked property, over facilitation of trade to Syria and East Asia in support of Hezbollah and the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Before that, Washington sanctioned a Lebanese network accused of smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to help fund Hezbollah.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)