Feb 23, 2018
Countering Hezbollah is a top priority for the United States. It is a Foreign Terrorist Organization, designated as such by the U.S. Department of State in 1997.
One of the best ways to hinder any terrorist group's activities is to attack its capacity to generate income. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, designated in early February, six individuals and seven entities, pursuant to Executive Order 13224. All of them work for or are controlled by the network of Adham Tabaja and Al-Inmaa Engineering and Contracting, which OFAC designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists in 2015.
Hezbollah fighters in Wadi al-Kheil or al-Kheil Valley in the Lebanon-Syria border. (File)
The designation allows the United States to freeze their assets, lock them out of the U.S. financial network thereby making international transactions extremely difficult if not impossible, and prosecute them for terrorist activities. It also prohibits U.S. citizens from doing business with them.
Ali Muhammad Qansu has a longstanding business relationship with Adham Tabaja, and with numerous Hezbollah members and businesses. He owns the seven entities which were designated along with him. They are Blue Lagoon Group LTD., Kanso Fishing Agency Limited, Star Trade Ghana Limited, Golden Fish S.A.L., Golden Fish Liberia LTD., Dolphin Trading Company Limited, and Sky Trade Company.
Jihad Muhammad Qansu is a financial manager of Al-Inmaa and a business associate of Adham Tabaja.
Issam Ahmad Saad is a managing partner and minority shareholder in Al-Inmaa.
Nabil Mahmoud Assaf is the manager of purchasing, and a minority shareholder in Al-Inmaa.
Abdul Latif Saad is the manager of Al-Inmaa's Baghdad, Iraq branch. He coordinates with Al-Inmaa Group for Tourism Works-subordinate companies, previously designated in June 2015 by OFAC.
Muhammad Badr-Al-Din is a manager of Al-Inmaa's Basra, Iraq branch, and has worked with Nabil Mahmoud Assaf and Hezbollah money launderer Mohamad Noureddine.
“Hezbollah is a terrorist organization responsible for the death of hundreds of Americans. It is also Iran's primary proxy used to undermine legitimate Arab governments across the Middle East. The Administration is determined to expose and disrupt Hezbollah's networks, including those across the Middle East and West Africa, used to fund their illicit operations,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “The Treasury Department will continue to sever Hezbollah from the international financial system, and we will be relentless in identifying, exposing, and dismantling Hezbollah's financial support networks globally.”