The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated three individuals and four companies linked to a Lebanon-based network that supports Hizballah financially. This network is accused of generating substantial revenue for Hizballah through sanctions evasion tactics, including commercial projects in Lebanon facilitated by Iran.
Bradley T. Smith, Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated, “Today’s action underscores Hizballah’s destabilizing influence within Lebanon and on the wider region, as the group, its affiliates, and its supporters continue to finance their operations through covert involvement in commercial trade and the illicit trafficking of captagon.”
The designations are made under Executive Order 13224 concerning counterterrorism authority. OFAC has previously targeted individuals involved in Hizballah’s financial operations such as Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal and the late Muhammad Qasir for managing investments on behalf of Hizballah.
In addition to targeting Hizballah’s financial network, OFAC also designated three individuals involved in Captagon trafficking which benefits Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its allies. Captagon is an addictive amphetamine fueling a billion-dollar illegal enterprise run by senior Syrian regime members.
Khaldoun Hamieh was identified as a drug trafficker with connections to both Hizballah and Syria’s Fourth Division. Raji Falhout leads a gang collaborating with Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate and Hizballah for kidnappings and drug trafficking profits. Adbellatif Hamideh operates a factory serving as a front for Captagon smuggling into Europe.
Today’s actions were coordinated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration under various executive orders addressing human rights abuses in Syria.
The sanctions block all property interests held by these individuals or entities within U.S jurisdiction unless authorized by OFAC. Violating these regulations may result in penalties.
Engaging with sanctioned parties carries risks of secondary sanctions under Executive Order 13224 which could restrict foreign financial institutions’ access to U.S accounts if they conduct significant transactions on behalf of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
OFAC emphasizes that while sanctions aim at behavior change rather than punishment, it remains committed to removing entities from sanction lists when justified legally.
