US imposes sanctions on Hezbollah 2 MPs and security official in Lebanon

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This combination of three photo shows, from left, Wafiq Safa, a top Hezbollah security official, and Lebanon Parliament members Muhammad Hasan Ra'd and Amin Sherri in Beirut. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Amin Sherri with the powerful Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. (US Treasury Department)
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Muhammad Hasan Ra'd is part of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's inner circle. (US Treasury Department)
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Wafiq Safa is responsible for Hezbollah’s coordination with the international community. (US Treasury Department)
Updated 10 July 2019
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US imposes sanctions on Hezbollah 2 MPs and security official in Lebanon

  • The Treasury named MPs Amin Sherri and Muhammad Hasan Ra'd to a terror-related blacklist
  • Designation says Hezbollah uses its parliamentary power to advance its alleged violent activities

WASHINGTON/BEIRUT: The US imposed sanctions on Tuesday on two Hezbollah members of the Lebanese Parliament and a security official with the Iran-backed group.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of Treasury said MPs Amin Sherri and Muhammad Hasan Ra’ad, members of the Loyalty to Resistance Bloc, acted on behalf of Hezbollah, which used its parliamentary power to advance its violent activities. 

OFAC released a photo of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani with his arm around Sherri’s shoulder.

The other man blacklisted is Wafiq Safa, a top Hezbollah official close to leader Hassan Nasrallah. The US said Safa maintained the group’s ties to financiers and arranged the smuggling of weapons and drugs.

Ra’ad, 64, is the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc and an MP since 1992. Sherri, 62, is a 17-year Hezbollah veteran of Parliament representing Beirut.

“Hezbollah uses its operatives in Lebanon’s Parliament to manipulate institutions in support of the terrorist group’s financial and security interests, and to bolster Iran’s malign activities,” said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

The newest sanctions brought to 50 the number of Hezbollah individuals and entities blacklisted by the Treasury since 2017.

The move came as the US steps up pressure on Iran and its alleged “proxies” in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, which Washington accuses of encouraging “terror” attacks.

 

What the sanction mean

It was the first time the US Treasury had placed Hezbollah lawmakers on its blacklist, which forbid US individuals and businesses with a US branch — including leading international banks — from doing business with those sanctioned.

The sanctions bar US citizens from dealing with the three men, block any assets they have in the US and limit their access to the US financial system.

A Trump administration official said the US wanted the sanctions to have a “chilling effect” on anyone who does business with Hezbollah. 

“It is time we believe for other nations around the world to recognize that there is no distinction between Hezbollah’s political and military wing,” a senior administration official who insisted on anonymity told journalists.

“To any member of Hezbollah considering running for office, know that you will not be able to hide beneath the cover of political office,” the official said.

“The message is actually that the rest of the Lebanese government needs to sever its dealings with these figures,” the State Department said.

The Treasury Department also called on “the international community to include Hezbollah on terrorism lists,” stressing that there is “no distinction between Hezbollah’s political and military wing.”

“The Lebanese government must sever its contacts with the sanctioned Hezbollah members. We will not close our eyes to members of the party in the government,” it added.

 

Hezbollah defiant

Hezbollah deputy Ali Fayyad said: “The US sanctions resolution is an insult to the Lebanese people, first and foremost” He added “There must be an official position from the parliament and the government on what affects Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

Hezbollah is represented in parliament by 13 deputies. The bloc is led by Raad, who was born in 1955 in the town of Jbaa in southern Lebanon, and is married with five children. He studied philosophy at the Lebanese University and participated in the creation of the Lebanese Union for Muslim Students, which was active in the late 1980s.

According to the Loyalty to Resistance Bloc’s website, he was one of the “early activists in Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance movement, and one of the founders of the support committees for the Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979. He headed the editorial board of the political weekly newspaper Al-Ahed for 10 years and took leadership positions in Islamic work.”

Raad was elected to represent southern Lebanon in 1992 and re-elected in 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2009. He was a member of the Hezbollah delegation, led by Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, that attended the National Dialogue Conference in 2006, which was organized to find a solution to the political crisis in Lebanon after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 on September 2004, which called for free and fair presidential elections and the withdrawal of foreign forces, and the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.

Raad, an outspoken defender of Hezbollah’s positions, denounced “the United States and those who are planning to defeat the spirit of resistance so that no obstacle remains to the ‘Deal of the Century’ (economic Middle East peace plan) they are marketing, by trying to subjugate us by means of the economic siege, starving us and imposing conditions on our sovereignty.”

He added: “We are interested in addressing this plan because it is aimed at our existence. They want to twist our arms.”

Sherri was born in 1957 in Beirut to a family that worked in the fields of trade and industry. He was elected to the parliament in 1998, reelected in 2004 and held his seat until 2010, and was elected again in 2019.

Safa, who is in charge of Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit, oversees Hezbollah’s interactions with the international community and the Lebanese security agencies.


Trusted by Nasrallah

The website Janoubia.com, which opposes Hezbollah, said that Safa “represents by himself an international and Arab network as well as a Lebanese network. He is always present and interferes in the smallest details. 

Even when there is a disruption in the contacts between Hezbollah and the Lebanese political leaders, Safa remains in touch with army officers, the Future Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party or the Lebanese Forces, the site said.

Safa was Hezbollah's first negotiator in all the prisoner-exchange operations with Israel since the founding of the party and was directly linked to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Safa enjoys the Trust of Nasrallah as one of the party's primary and senior cadres.”

Known as a man of few words who is very secretive, Safa was a member of the Shiite Amal Movement militia before joining Hezbollah in the 1980s after the 1978 disappearance of Shiite religious leader Musa Al-Sadr in Libya.

“Targeting Hezbollah deputies in the sanctions might be for intelligence reasons, because of some telephone calls or frequent visits to a place,” said former Lebanese ambassador to Washington Riad Tabbara. 

He added that the US call for the Lebanese government to sever relations with the two deputies and the security official “is subject to negotiations.”

He explained: “Hezbollah has already been on the list of sanctions, and its representatives in the government and parliament receive salaries from the Lebanese government. This comes in accordance with arrangements agreed between the Lebanese and US sides through delegations from the Lebanese Central Bank and from the parliament that visited Washington and reached solutions that do not harm Lebanon or break US sanctions.

“The United States is concerned about Lebanon’s economic, security and political stability, and it goes easy with Lebanon under this ceiling.”

The latest sanctions are “a message to Iran and its arms in the region,” he added.

 

(With AP)


Far-right Israeli minister slams ‘coup’ after arrests

Updated 59 min 30 sec ago
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Far-right Israeli minister slams ‘coup’ after arrests

  • Ben Gvir called the arrests “an attempt to bring me down, me, the government and the prime minister,” Benjamin Netanyahu

JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned Monday the arrests of a senior prison official and two police officers linked to him as an attempt to oust him.
The three, who media say are close to Ben Gvir, were arrested on suspicion of bribery, abuse of office and breach of trust, according to reports.
Police have not commented on the arrests.
“This is a coup d’etat... a political decision,” Ben Gvir said in televised comments.
He called the arrests “an attempt to bring me down, me, the government and the prime minister,” Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The decision to investigate police officers and a senior prison service official who are clearly and fully implementing my policy... is a political decision,” Ben Gvir added.
Israeli media said on Monday the prison service official questioned by police was the chief, Kobi Yaakobi, a close friend of Ben Gvir who was appointed in January.
Ben Gvir on Monday posted on his Telegram channel a photo with Yaakobi and the words: “Kobi, we love you.”
Last week the minister gave his “full” support to four people working in his office, who Israeli media said were questioned by police as part of a probe into the alleged issuing of weapons permits illegally.
Ben Gvir also directly attacked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who had previously provoked the ire of some ministers in the current government.
“In order for the right-wing government to function, without the legal adviser preventing it, we must stop this crazy campaign and legal coup,” Ben Gvir said.
He urged Netanyahu to discuss in Sunday’s cabinet meeting ending Baharav-Miara’s mandate.
In March last year, it was Baharav-Miara who deemed “illegal” one of Netanyahu’s public interventions on proposed judicial system reforms then dividing the country.


Turkiye could benefit from rebel offensive in Syria: experts

Updated 03 December 2024
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Turkiye could benefit from rebel offensive in Syria: experts

  • Ankara and Damascus broke off ties in 2011 when the war started with Erdogan backing the militants

ISTANBUL: Turkiye could be one of the big winners from the new Syria crisis, giving it a chance to tackle its Syrian refugee problem and the Kurdish threat along its border, observers say.
Although Syrian President Bashar Assad spurned an offer of help from his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara now appears to have an increasingly important role in decisions that will affect Syria’s immediate future.

Omer Ozkizilcik, an Atlantic Council associate researcher in Ankara, said Turkiye has a “complex and difficult relationship” with Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the terrorist alliance that led last week’s militant offensive.
“We can clearly say there was indirect Turkish support (for the offensive) but no direct Turkish involvement,” he told AFP.
Although the attack was due to take place “seven weeks ago... Turkiye stopped the militants from launching this military offensive,” he added.
Assad’s ally Russia has also been “heavily” bombing militants positions in the northwest to stymie an attack on his government.
Charles Lister, an expert at Washington’s Middle East Institute agreed, saying “the Aleppo offensive was initially planned for mid-October but Turkiye put a stop to it.”
It was only after Ankara’s efforts to normalize ties with the Assad goverment were rebuffed as it pushed for a political solution, that Turkiye gave its green light, Ozkizilcik said.

Turkiye has pushed back against the expansion of HTS into the “security zone” in northwest Syria it has carved out for itself, and has put pressure on the radical group to drop its Al-Qaeda affiliation.
It has also pressed it to avoid attacking Christian and Druze minorities, analysts say.
“The HTS of today is not what it was in 2020,” Ozkizilcik said.
Although Turkiye has some influence over the group, Firas Kontar, a Syrian Druze origin and author of “Syria, the Impossible Revolution,” believes Erdogan “no longer has the means to stop HTS.”

Ankara and Damascus broke off ties in 2011 when the war started with Erdogan backing the militants.
However, since late 2022 the Turkish leader has been seeking a rapprochement, saying in July he was ready to host Assad “at any time.”
But Assad said he would only meet if Turkish forces withdrew from Syria.
Ankara is hoping a rapprochement would pave the way for the return of the 3.2 million Syrian refugees still on its soil, whose presence has become a major domestic hot potato.
“Now with the changing situation on the ground, the balance of power in Syria has shifted: Turkiye is the most powerful actor at the moment inside Syria, and Iran and Russia will likely try to negotiate with Turkiye,” Ozkizilcik said.

Since 2016, Turkiye has staged multiple operations against Kurdish forces in northern Syria which has given it a foothold in areas bordering the frontier.
The aim is to oust Kurdish fighters from the border zone, notably the YPG (People’s Protection Units) which are backed by Washington as bulwark against Daesh group terrorists.
But Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the PKK which has fought a decades-long insurgency inside Turkiye and is banned as a terror group by Washington and Brussels.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, pro-Turkiye militans on Sunday seized Tal Rifaat, a town north of Aleppo and the surrounding villages, where some 200,000 Syrian Kurds were living.
Tal Rifaat lies just outside Turkiye’s “security zone” with the move prompting Kurdish residents to flee to a safe zone further east.
Turkiye’s secret service said it had killed a PKK leader in the area.
“Turkiye has already made and probably will make many gains against the YPG terror group to secure its national security,” said Ozkizilcik.

 


Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza

Updated 03 December 2024
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Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza

  • At least 44,466 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army called on Monday for some areas of the southern Gaza Strip to be evacuated, warning that Palestinian militants were launching rockets from there.
It is the first such call in weeks relating to the south of the embattled Palestinian territory after the military turned its attention to the north in October.
“Terrorist organizations are once again firing rockets toward the State of Israel from your area,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post in Arabic on X, addressing residents of the Khan Yunis area.
“For your safety, you must evacuate the area immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” he said, sharing a map of the area in question.
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military said in a statement that “one projectile that crossed into Israeli territory from Khan Yunis was intercepted” by the Israeli air force.
Hamas’s armed wing later claimed responsibility, saying it had fired rockets toward southern Israel.
Israel has destroyed large swathes of Gaza since it launched a retaliatory military offensive following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
At least 44,466 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
 

 


US welcomes Israel lifeline for Palestinian banking

A man withdraws cash from an ATM machine at Bank of Palestine in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 03 December 2024
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US welcomes Israel lifeline for Palestinian banking

  • US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that cutting off Palestinian banks “would create a humanitarian crisis” and voiced disappointment in October when Israel approved only a 30-day extension

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday welcomed Israel’s one-year extension of a lifeline to Palestinian banks, after threats by the far-right finance minister to sever the connection amid the Gaza war.
The United States had pressed Israel to maintain the waiver which allows Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones, fearing otherwise that the comparatively stable West Bank would descend into economic havoc.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. (AFP file photo)

The State and Treasury Departments in a joint statement said they welcomed the decision taken Thursday at a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet.
“Economic stability in the West Bank is essential for Israeli and Palestinian security, and correspondent banking is a key pillar of that economic stability,” the statement said.
“The United States appreciates the ongoing engagement with the Government of Israel and the Palestine Monetary Authority on this matter.”
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement and advocates for the full annexation of the territory occupied by Israel since 1967, earlier threatened to end the waiver in retaliation for three European countries’ recognition of a Palestinian state.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that cutting off Palestinian banks “would create a humanitarian crisis” and voiced disappointment in October when Israel approved only a 30-day extension.
 

 


Lebanon parliament speaker accuses Israel of blatant breaches of ceasefire agreement

Updated 03 December 2024
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Lebanon parliament speaker accuses Israel of blatant breaches of ceasefire agreement

  • At least two people killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon 

 

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri described “the Israeli occupying forces’ hostilities as blatant violations of the ceasefire agreement” as Lebanese authorities reported that at least two people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

Berri called on the committee responsible for monitoring the ceasefire agreement between the Israeli army and Hezbollah to “urgently start carrying out its duties and oblige Israel to stop its violations and withdraw from the areas it invaded before anything else.”

Hezbollah “is committed to its pledges,” Berri said.

More than 54 Israeli breaches have been recorded, said Berri, who handled the ceasefire negotiations with the US envoy after being delegated to do so by Hezbollah.

Berri’s protest came as the ministry of health said one person was killed in an Israeli drone attack near the electricity plant in Marjayoun.

Lebanon’s state security said an Israeli drone strike killed a member of its forces — Cpl. Mahdi Khreis — while he was on duty in Nabatieh, 12 kilometers from the border.

State security called it a “flagrant violation” of the truce.

Security sources said Israeli attacks struck sites deep inside Lebanon. An Israeli drone fired three missiles at Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali village on the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The Israeli army said it attacked military vehicles operating near Hezbollah military infrastructure in Bekaa, Lebanon.

The Lebanese army said an Israeli drone struck an army bulldozer carrying out construction work at the Al-Abbara military center in the Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali area of Hermel, injuring a soldier.

The Israeli army said that it was aware of the attack and that the incident was under investigation.

Israeli breaches continued in the area invaded by the Israeli army, including demolishing houses and private and public facilities and carrying out airstrikes against Bint Jbeil, Maroun Al-Ras and Aitaroun, injuring one person.

The Israeli army imposed a curfew on residents of the invaded area for specific hours.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee continued to warn residents of this area, which includes more than 50 villages, against going back to their houses at the moment. Many residents fled the area 14 months ago.

Berri denounced “the Israeli occupying forces’ hostilities, including demolishing homes in Lebanese border villages, carrying out air raids on Lebanese territories, as well as the latest strikes in Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali, Hermel, and Jdeidet Marjayoun, which resulted in casualties.”

Berri said the Israeli actions “are blatant breaches of the ceasefire agreement, effective since 4 a.m. on Nov. 27, to which Lebanon fully adheres.”

Berri questioned “the silence of the technical committee tasked with monitoring the agreement,” highlighting Israeli offences.

He emphasized that “Lebanon and the resistance remain committed to their pledges.”

Media reports stated that US envoy Amos Hochstein, who handled the ceasefire negotiations, sent a message to Israel regarding its “violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that Israel “adheres to the ceasefire agreement.”

But, he claimed, the 60-day period for the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the areas it invaded according to the agreement is “a gradual process to ensure Hezbollah's threat is gone.”

Hagari told Sky News Arabia: “Israel’s primary concern is to ensure its security and that it is not exposed to any threats.”

He said the Lebanese people “must ensure that the border areas with Israel are free of weapons that threaten Israel's security.”

According to a security source, the Israeli forces in a new incursion infiltrated the area near the Mays Al-Jabal government hospital.

“These forces regard this location as part of their operational zone, having established a boundary restricting Lebanese residents from returning to their towns following the ceasefire implementation.” the source said, adding that the situation was expected to persist until the forces withdraw within 60 days.

Adraee reiterated the Israeli prohibition on X: “Until further notice, movement south of the line of villages: Shebaa, Al-Habbariyeh, Marjayoun, Arnoun, Yohmor, Qantara, Shaqra, Baraashit, Yater, and Mansouri, and the surrounding areas of these villages is restricted.”

He said that “anyone who moves south of this line puts themselves at risk.”

The mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement is scheduled to commence at the beginning of this week.

The monitoring committee includes the US, France, Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL representatives.

The French Foreign Ministry said that Paris had informed Israel of the need for all parties to respect the ceasefire agreement.

Over the past weekend, it said French authorities observed 52 violations of the ceasefire agreement by Israel in the space of 24 hours.

Hezbollah, citing repeated Israeli ceasefire violations, carried out a strike on an Israeli military position late on Monday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Hezbollah's firing toward army positions "will be met with a harsh response."

Hezbollah targeted the Kfar Shuba hills within the Shebaa Farms around 6 p.m. for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect.

A political observer described Hezbollah's action as "a calculated response, as the Shebaa Farms are not included in the 1701 Agreement and therefore are not included in the ceasefire."

Israeli media reported that two missiles were detected crossing from Lebanon into the Mount Dov area and falling in an open area, and two explosions were heard in the vicinity of the Ruwaysat Al-Alam site in the Kfar Shuba Heights. 

A Hezbollah statement said that the military operation it carried out was "in response to the repeated violations by Israel of the declared cessation of hostilities agreement, which took various forms, including firing on civilians and airstrikes in different parts of Lebanon, which led to the martyrdom of citizens and the injury of others, in addition to the continued violation of Lebanese airspace by hostile Israeli aircraft, reaching the capital Beirut."

"Since the reviews of the relevant authorities to stop these violations did not succeed, Hezbollah carried out an initial warning defensive response targeting the Ruwaysat Al-Alam site belonging to the Israeli army in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shuba Hills."

The Israeli army later carried out raids on towns within the zone it declared south of the Litani Line.

In other developments, the Lebanese government has increased its meetings to deliberate on strategies to deal with the piles of debris resulting from the Israeli demolition of residential structures.

The move came as those displaced began to return to their homes in the less-affected regions of the southern suburbs of Beirut, the South, and Bekaa.

Lebanon’s Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said: “We are faced with the challenge of reconstruction, everything that has to do with removing the rubble and where to put it. There will be full coordination with the relevant ministries and bodies.”

After a meeting with the governors, he said that the “army and general security protect the Lebanese borders.”

The minister asked the governors to “constantly cooperate with the security forces and hold sub-security council meetings to discuss what may happen.”

The Beirut Southern Suburb Union of Municipalities said it continues to work on opening main and secondary roads by pushing rubble aside.

Data, including the names of residents, were circulated and showed that Hezbollah had started counting the people who were affected and surveying the damaged areas.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Gathering of Engineers has launched a drive to “recruit engineers and architects who wish to take part in the surveying and reconstruction efforts.”