Washington Adds Hezbollah Institutions and Officials to Terror List

Member states of the U.S.-led Targeted Financing of Terrorism Center (TFTC) announced a new package of sanctions targeting Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure, encompassing five entities and 16 individuals, including the Al-Maqasid Foundation and Bayt al-Mal, along with several senior officials within these organizations.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury stated in a press release that the measures are part of joint efforts to disrupt Hezbollah’s ability to utilize the international financial system, noting that all individuals and entities sanctioned were previously listed on U.S. sanctions lists.

According to the statement, the sanctions target institutions and figures accused by Washington of managing Hezbollah’s financial network and providing financial and logistical services supporting its activities, as well as accounting and consulting firms that played a role in managing funds and circumventing sanctions.

It further noted that several sanctioned individuals used joint bank accounts in Lebanese banks to transfer more than $500 million through the formal financial system over more than a decade, despite sanctions imposed on Al-Maqasid, considering these mechanisms instrumental in circumventing financial restrictions.

The Treasury added that this step represents the third sanctions package issued by the TFTC during the current U.S. administration, and the ninth since the center’s establishment in 2017, emphasizing that the goal is to curtail Hezbollah’s funding sources and enhance the protection of the international financial system. The individuals and entities subject to sanctions are: Al-Maqasid Foundation, Bayt al-Mal, Al-Khubara for Accounting and Studies, Taysheel Company, Ibrahim Dagher’s Accountants, Ali Ibrahim Dagher, Adel Mohammed Mansour, Ahmed Mohammed Yzebek, Samer Hassan Fawaz, Ali Mohammed Qarnoub, Abbas Hassan Gharib, Mustafa Habib Harb, Azzat Youssef Akar, Hassan Shihada Osman, Naima Ahmed Jammil, Issa Hussein Qasir, Ali Ahmed Karasht, Nasser Hassan Nasr, Wahid Sabti, Mohammed Suleiman Badr, and Emad Mohammed Bazzi.

From southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed that his forces would not withdraw from the area until the “threat” to northern Israel is eliminated, stressing that establishing a “buffer zone” constitutes one of the key achievements of the military operations.

Speaking during a tour of what he described as the “security belt,” he stated that the military “eliminated 9,000 Hezbollah militants in recent weeks.”

Addressing his troops, he said, “Thanks to what you are doing, Lebanon recognizes Israel, and Israel recognizes Lebanon. We say to Iran and Hezbollah: leave this place, for you no longer have a place here... There are two sovereign states that wish to live in peace.”

On Monday evening, Defense Minister Israel Katz asserted that the pressure exerted by U.S. President Donald Trump on Netanyahu “contributed to strengthening Hezbollah’s presence in southern Lebanon and prevented its collapse.”

During a briefing for military journalists, he clarified that “the threat of an Israeli invasion from Lebanon remains, as there are 1,200 Hezbollah fighters between the border fence and the Litani River.”

In a related development, The Washington Post quoted a U.S. official as saying that the United States will play a direct role in monitoring the movements of both the Lebanese and Israeli armies, including the deployment of ground forces.