US sanctions oil, LPG smuggling network generating revenue for Hezbollah

Sanctioning include 3 individuals, 5 companies, 2 vessels in network comprised of Lebanese businessmen, firms

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Treasury Department said Wednesday it imposed sanctions on an oil and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) network that generates revenue for Hezbollah.

The sanctions include three individuals, five companies, and two vessels that are involved in the network, it said in a statement.

The agency said the network is comprised of Lebanese businessmen and companies, which are overseen by a senior leader of Hezbollah’s finance team.

The network has facilitated dozens of LPG shipments to the government of Syria and channeled the profits to Hezbollah, it added.

Illicit oil and LPG smuggling operations generate hundreds of millions of dollars for Hezbollah and support the group’s terrorist activities, it added.

"Hezbollah 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 Hezbollah’s war machine."

Kaynak:

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