U.S. sanctions Hezbollah accountants and weapons facilitator

U.S. sanctions Hezbollah accountants and weapons facilitator

The administration of President Joe Biden on Thursday imposed sanctions on accountants, their firms and an arms facilitator accused of working for the Iran-back, Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist organization.The punitive measures target Adel Mohamad Mansour, the 56-year-old head of Al-Qard al-Hassan — a Hezbollah-run financial institution the United States designated in 2007. The sanctions also targeted a firm named in full as Al-Khobara for Accounting, Auditing and Studies, of which Mansour is chief executive.

Another firm — Auditors for Accounting and Auditing — was also hit with sanctions for being under the control of Ibrahim Daher, whom the Biden administration sanctioned in May of 2021 for serving as the chief of Hezbollah’s Central Financial Unit, which oversees the terrorist organization’s budget.

Naser Hasan Neser, 59, was also sanctioned for managing the firm along with Daher.

All those targeted Thursday reside in Lebanon, with Biden officials accusing them and their companies of managing and enabling Hezbollah’s overarching financial apparatus in the Middle Eastern country.

“Their public personae as financial professionals and institutions is just another way Hezbollah hides its abuse of the financial system to support its destabilizing agenda,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

A third Lebanese citizen, Hassan Khalil, 43, was also designated Thursday on accusations of procuring weapons for the terrorist organization.

The sanctions Thursday come nearly a month after the Biden administration sanctioned six people, 17 companies and 11 vessels it accused of aiding Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to sell Persian oil.

“Hezbollah remains a terrorist organization that undermines Lebanon’s stability and security, as well as regional stability, even as the Lebanese people suffer through a dire financial crisis,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Source: msn