US blacklists seven Lebanese nationals tied to Hezbollah Treasury website

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The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on seven Lebanese nationals tied to the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, designating them as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT), according to the Treasury's website.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that it had blacklisted Ibrahim Ali Daher, who it described as chief of Hezbollah's Central Finance Unit, as a specially designated global terrorist, accusing him of acting on behalf of Hezbollah.

The United States also slapped sanctions on six others linked to AQAH, including a man it said was the financial director, Ahmad Mohamad Yazbeck, as well as Abbas Hassan Gharib, Wahid Mahmud Subayti, Mostafa Habib Harb, Ezzat Youssef Akar, and Hasan Chehadeh Othman.

The Treasury accused the six men of using the cover of personal accounts at Lebanese banks to evade sanctions targeting AQAH and transfer $500 million on behalf of the U.S.-blacklisted firm.

Officials in Hezbollah had no immediate comment.

Tuesday's move freezes any U.S. assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those who engage in certain transactions with the designated individuals also risk being hit with secondary sanctions.

"Hizballah (Hezbollah) continues to abuse the Lebanese financial sector and drain Lebanon’s financial resources at an already dire time," Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in the statement.

In Lebanon, a deadlock in Cabinet talks have worsened the country's economic collapse. Just 18 months have passed since mass protests against the Middle Eastern country's political class brought down one government, and nearly eight more months since a huge explosion destroyed the port of Beirut and toppled the administration that succeeded it.

REUTERS