The US Biden administration has imposed sanctions on a Lebanese business network for allegedly smuggling oil and LPG to support Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon.
The sanctions focus on three individuals, five businesses and two ships that the US Treasury Department claims were under the supervision of a senior Hezbollah finance team leader.
These entities allegedly used profits from illegal LPG shipments to Syria to generate income for the group.
The Treasury has consistently taken measures to target individuals involved in Hezbollah's financial operations, which are crucial for the organisation's revenue.
Two prominent Hezbollah officials – Muhammad Qasir (Qasir) and Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal (al-Bazzal) – have been identified as managing a channel for transporting LPG and other oil distillates on behalf of Hezbollah and receiving direct payments for their sale.
Bradley Smith, the Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated that Hezbollah continues to “launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability”.
He mentioned that the group “prioritises funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon”.
He added that the department will “continue to disrupt the oil smuggling and other financing networks that support Hezbollah’s war machine”.
On Wednesday, the US sanctioned two LPG carriers: the 4,811 dry-weight tonnage (dwt) Alpha Gas and the 4,447dwt Marina, registered in Tanzania.
According to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Qasim al-Bazzal, a US-sanctioned Hezbollah official, acquired Marina in 2020. He and other Hezbollah officials received payments from Syrian government official Yasser Ibrahim and Hokoul Offshore, a US-sanctioned company controlled by al-Bazzal for shipments made by the LPG carrier.
OFAC said that Al-Bazzal paid for the acquisition of Alpha Gas through Hokoul in early 2022. It stated that both Alpha Gas and Marina shipped LPG to Syria’s Baniyas port on behalf of Hokoul.
The government's report mentions a senior Hezbollah finance team official and two Lebanese businessmen involved in Hezbollah's oil smuggling to Syria. They worked with a Syrian regime official designated for corrupt business deals benefitting Syrian President Assad.
The number of ships sanctioned by the US for links to Iran and terrorism has now reached 55 for the year, not including the vessels designated on Wednesday for transporting arms from Iran to Russia.
