The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned three individuals, five companies, and two vessels involved in smuggling oil and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) to generate revenue for Hizballah. This network, comprising Lebanese businessmen and companies overseen by a senior leader of Hizballah’s finance team, has facilitated numerous LPG shipments to the Government of Syria, channeling profits to Hizballah. These operations generate significant revenue for Hizballah and support its terrorist activities.
“Hizballah continues to launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability, choosing to prioritize funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “Treasury will continue to disrupt the oil smuggling and other financing networks that support Hizballah’s war machine.”
This action is taken under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended. The U.S. Department of State designated Hizballah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group (SDGT) under E.O. 13224 on October 31, 2001.
The network targeted today includes another senior Hizballah finance team official and two Lebanese businessmen providing a front for facilitating oil smuggling efforts. They have worked with Syrian regime official Yasser Ibrahim, who was designated by the Department of State on August 20, 2020.
Key figures in this network include Muhammad Ibrahim Habib al-Sayyid (al-Sayyid), Ali Nayef Zgheib (Zgheib), and Boutros Georges Obeid (Obeid). Al-Sayyid assumed responsibility for some commercial businesses from Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal (al-Bazzal) in late 2023. Zgheib has advised Hizballah’s finance team since at least late 2019 and coordinated activities with Qasir and al-Bazzal.
Zgheib and Obeid own Heavy Oil Distribution Company S.A.L. (HODICO) and several subsidiaries involved in energy deals coordinated by al-Bazzal. HODICO Offshore is managed by Zgheib and Obeid while Heavy Industrial Fuels SAL HIF received a $1 million payment from Yasser Ibrahim arranged by al-Bazzal in 2022.
European Lebanese International Trade S.A.R.L. (ELIT), represented by al-Bazzal, facilitated dozens of LPG shipments made by tankers ALPHA GAS and MARINA to Baniyas port in Syria for Hokoul SAL Offshore Company.
As a result of these sanctions, all property belonging to these individuals or entities within U.S jurisdiction is blocked. Non-U.S persons are prohibited from causing violations of U.S sanctions or engaging in conduct that evades them.
OFAC's sanctions aim not only at punishing but also at bringing about positive changes in behavior.
For more information on those designated today or OFAC's enforcement guidelines regarding U.S sanctions:
- FinCEN Advisory
- National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment
- National Strategy for Combatting Terrorist Financing
- Terrorist Financing Targeting Center
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