File photo of Hezbollah flag: Several Arab and Western countries designated Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed, Lebanon-based militia, as a “terrorist” organization.The designation covers the entirety of the group, both the political and military wings . “Hezbollah is an “Iranian proxy” that does not respect Lebanon’s sovereignty, a US official said
The United States will on Thursday issue fresh sanctions targeting Lebanon’s Hezbollah, including re-designating it under a terrorism authority, according to a statement seen by Reuters. A US official said the move was aimed at emphasizing the Shiite group’s links to the Iranian regime.
While Hezbollah is not being designated under any new authority, the Treasury Department is re-designating it as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist “for service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force”, the statement said.
A US official said that the re-designation was intended to show that Hezbollah is acting on behalf of the Iranian government, and update the public record to link the designation to Hezbollah’s actions allegedly carried out on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
Hezbollah was first designated under the authority in 2001 and is also sanctioned by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
US sanctions 1o people over smuggling cash for Hezbollah.
The US treasury department announced sanctions on Thursday against 10 people it says formed a courier network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah by carrying cash onboard commercial flights between Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
The office of foreign assets control (OFAC) said the network allowed Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group,to obtain foreign currency and dodge sanctions outside the formal banking system. The treasury department linked the operation to a scheme once associated with Behnam Shahriyari, a now-deceased finance official for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
At the center of the network, according to the department, is Yunus Alper Yilmaz, a Turkish businessman accused of running the courier operation and using Turkish-based currency exchange houses as fronts, along with shell companies and bank accounts tied to the IRGC-QF. Two men accused of collecting cash from those exchange houses on his behalf, Halil Ibrahim Kacmaz and Onder Dede, were designated, as was Vasfi Akyuz, described as a logistics coordinator who also worked as a courier.
Six others – Mehmet Akyuz, Mehmet Acur, Feyyad Karasalih, Masoud Mousafar, Gulay Kaya Savci and Emrah Ayaz – are accused of physically carrying the cash to Lebanon on commercial flights. None of the 10 appear to be public or widely known figures.
The action lands amid a sharp rise in tensions between Turkey and Israel this week, after Israeli airstrikes on a Syrian airbase near Aleppo prompted Ankara to accuse Israel of using the incident as a pretext to violate Syrian sovereignty. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned Turkey against expanding its military footprint in Syria
A state department spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, tied the action to Washington’s broader campaign against Tehran.
He said: “The network uses couriers traveling on commercial airline flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the UAE and Iran to move hundreds of millions of dollars, enabling the regime to obtain foreign currency illicitly, evade sanctions and fund Hezbollah.”
He added that the investigation leading to the sanctions was carried out in coordination with Turkish authorities, and said the US would continue targeting networks that finance Hezbollah’s activities against Lebanon’s sovereignty and regional security.
Under the sanctions, any assets the 10 individuals hold in the US or under the control of US persons are frozen, and Americans are generally barred from doing business with them.
A US State Department official said: Hezbollah is an “Iranian proxy” that does not respect Lebanon’s sovereignty.
The Guardian
