US Treasury Sanctions 5 Individuals Linked To Hezbollah, 1 Entity In Palestine - OFAC

US Treasury Sanctions 5 Individuals Linked to Hezbollah, 1 Entity in Palestine - OFAC

The United States has imposed sanctions on five individuals over their alleged links to Lebanon's Hezbollah, along with militant faction based in Gaza, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a notice on its website on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2018) The United States has imposed sanctions on five individuals over their alleged links to Lebanon's Hezbollah, along with militant faction based in Gaza, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a notice on its website on Tuesday.

Those designated under the action against Hezbollah include Iraqi national 'Ubayd al-Zaydi, who is allegedly linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Lebanese nationals Muhammad Farhat, Yusuf Hashim, Adnan Hussein Kawtharani and Jawad Nasrallah were also designated.

The Treasury also imposed sanctions on the Al-Mujahidin Brigades, a militant group which operates in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Egypt.

Four of the individuals - Zaydi, Farhat, Hashim and Kawtharani - were designated over their alleged role in coordinating the activities of Hezbollah in Iraq, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

"The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action today to target four Hizballah-affiliated individuals who lead and coordinate the group's operational, intelligence, and financial activities in Iraq," the statement said.

The Treasury said Zaydi has acted as a financial coordinator between the Qods Force and armed sectarian groups in Iraq on behalf of Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, who the US has previously sanctioned.

"Hizballah is a terrorist proxy for the Iranian regime that seeks to undermine Iraqi sovereignty and destabilize the middle East. We are targeting terror facilitators like Al-Zaydi who smuggle oil for Iran, raise funds for Hizballah, and send fighters to Syria for the IRGC-Qods Force on behalf of Qasem Soleimani," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said in the release.

The four individuals were designated under the authority granted by the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018, which was signed into law on Oct 25, the Treasury said.

The Treasury did not immediately elaborate on its reasoning for imposing sanctions on Lebanese national Jawad Nasrallah or the Al-Mujahidin Brigades, a militant group which operates in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Egypt.