The US government has placed sanctions on two LPG carriers that it claims are controlled by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also sanctioned three people and five companies that it accused of smuggling oil and LPG for the group.
Among the companies targeted in the new actions is European Lebanese International Trade (ELIT), which is represented by previously sanctioned Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal, an alleged Hezbollah official.
The Treasury Department said the company used the 4,415-cbm Alpha Gas (built 1990) and 4,400-cbm Marina (built 1992) for dozens of LPG shipments to Baniyas, Syria, for Hokoul SAL Offshore Co, which has already been sanctioned for also being under al-Bazzal’s control.
ELIT could not be reached for comment.
Treasury accused al-Bazzal of buying the Marina in 2020 and receiving payments, alongside other Hezbollah officials, for shipments made by the tanker.
The department said al-Bazzal bought the Alpha Gas in early 2022 through Hokoul.
“ELIT was used by al-Bazzal to cover the operating expenses for the Alpha Gas and Marina,” Treasury said. “Bazzal was at one time owed approximately $4m for shipments made by the tankers.”
The latest sanctions target what Treasury said is a network of businessmen and companies overseen by Hezbollah’s finance wing.
They allegedly sold dozens of LPG shipments to Syria and funnelled the profits back to the militant group, as part of a wider operation to smuggle energy commodities to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist group.
Bradley Smith, the Treasury Department’s acting undersecretary for terrorism & financial intelligence, said Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into Israel.
“Treasury will continue to disrupt the oil smuggling and other financing networks that support [Hezbollah’s] war machine,” he said.
The network is run by Muhammad Qasir, whom Treasury has already sanctioned for being a conduit for funding from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, and al-Bazzal, who was also already on the US sanctions list for aiding Hezbollah.
New sanctions were placed on another Hezbollah finance team official, Muhammad Ibrahim Habib al-Sayyid, and Lebanese businessman Ali Nayef Zgheib, a petroleum chemistry expert accused of advising the militant group behind the scenes and securing storage tanks.
Lebanese businessman Boutros Georges Obeid was named for being involved in Hezbollah’s energy deals.
Treasury also named companies owned by Obeid and Zgheib, including Heavy Oil Distribution Co and several subsidiaries.
Last month, the US sanctioned four VLGC carriers in connection with Hezbollah.
