US sanctions Lebanese businessman and his companies due to Hezbollah links

US sanctions Lebanese businessman and his companies due to Hezbollah links
May 20, 2022, 7:01 am

US Treasury Department building/Official Facebook page

The US Treasury Department on Thursday (May 19) issued new Hezbollah-related sanctions, designating Lebanese businessman and the Iran-backed group’s financial facilitator, Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah, and his companies.

The department said, Abdallah, five of his associates and eight of his companies in Lebanon and Iraq were sanctioned and added to the sanctions list of the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

According to the Treasury, Abdallah is a Hezbollah official and an active member of its global financial network. The department said, he has supported Hezbollah for decades, carrying out commercial activities in various countries where the profits are transferred to the Iran-backed group.

Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah carry flags while riding in a convoy in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon. (File/Reuters)

Founded in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and classified by the United States and other Western countries as a “terrorist organization,” Hezbollah is a powerful group in Lebanon because of a heavily armed militia that fought several wars with Israel. It grew stronger after joining the war in Syria in 2012 in support of President Bashar Assad.

Hezbollah and allies lose majority in Lebanon’s parliament

The United States said Abdallah used his senior employees and relatives to establish new businesses throughout the Middle East on behalf of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah on Sunday faced an electoral setback when the group and its allies lost their parliamentary majority in elections in Lebanon.

Source: arabnews

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