The United States imposed on Tuesday new sanctions against Hezbollah’s financial network, targeting officials responsible for its operations in Iraq.
The Treasury blacklisted Shibl Muhsin 'Ubayd Al-Zaydi, Yusuf Hashim, Adnan Hussein Kawtharani, and Muhammad 'Abd-Al-Hadi Farhat under its Specially Designated Global Terrorists program, saying they moved money, acquired weapons and trained fighters in Iraq for the group.
Among the four, Al-Zaydi was a key coordinator between Hezbollah, Iran's blacklisted Revolutionary Guards, and their supporters in Iraq, the Treasury said.
He is close to alleged Hezbollah financier Adham Tabaja, and coordinated smuggling oil from Iran into Syria.
He also sent Iraqi fighters to Syria on behalf of the Revolutionary Guard, the Treasury said.
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The other three were also involved in collecting intelligence and moving money for Hezbollah in Iraq, it said.
"Hezbollah is a terrorist proxy for the Iranian regime that seeks to undermine Iraqi sovereignty and destabilize the Middle East," said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
"Treasury's concerted actions aim to deny Hezbollah's clandestine attempts to exploit Iraq to launder funds, procure weapons, train fighters and collect intelligence as a proxy for Iran," Mandelker said in a statement.
Later, the State Department designated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s son, Jawad, as terrorist, accusing him of carrying out attacks against Israel in the West Bank.
The department also blacklisted Al-Mujahidin Brigades (AMB), which it said had links to Hezbollah and had plotted a number of attacks against Israeli targets from a base in the Palestinian Territories.
“Today’s designations seek to deny Nasrallah and AMB the resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks,” the State Department said in a statement. It said the actions denied Nasrallah and AMB access to the US financial system.
