US sanctions five individuals, two entities for helping Iran-backed Hezbollah

The US designated five individuals and two entities on Thursday over what it said was helping Iran-backed Hezbollah evade US sanctions.

“The United States is today designating five individuals and two entities in connection with sanctions evasion by US-designated Hizballah financial advisor Hassan Moukalled. These efforts have enabled Moukalled to continue to support the terrorist group and its leadership,” State Department Spokesman Matt Miller said in a statement.

Alleged Hezbollah financial advisor Hassan Moukalled was sanctioned in January 2023 alongside his two sons and their companies for funneling money to Hezbollah.

Moukalled was also accused of dealing with a sanctioned senior Hezbollah financial official, Muhammad Qasir, including business deals with Russia.

The latest round of sanctions targeted sides for their enabling Moukalled “to continue to support the terrorist group and its leadership,” Miller said.

Moukalled, who has over 55,000 followers on X, describes himself as the chief economic editor of immarwaiktissad.com, greenarea.me, and russia-now.com.

Washington said last year that Moukalled played a “key role” in enabling Hezbollah to “exploit and “exacerbate” Lebanon’s economic crisis.

Lebanon has been in throes of one of the worst economic crises in recent history, according to the World Bank. Since nationwide anti-government protests rocked the country in 2019, the country’s banking sector has all but collapsed. Beirut also defaulted on its debt in 2020 for the first time in its history.

Foreign investment quickly came to a screeching halt as a result.

“The United States remains committed to deterring and disrupting terrorist financing and identifying its enablers,” Miller said on Thursday. “Today’s action is another reminder that there are consequences for enablers of terrorist groups who facilitate sanctions evasion through businesses posing as legitimate investments,” he added.

A top Treasury Department official said Hezbollah was continuing to rely on “seemingly legitimate business investments” and key facilitators to generate revenue for its operations. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said these operations include “destabilizing attacks across Israel’s northern border.”