The State Department announced is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that leads to the disruption of financial activities that support the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah’s global finances, the first time its targeted money behind the Iranian-sponsored group.
Tuesday’s announcement is part of a “maximum pressure” campaign against Hezbollah. The $10 million reward, from the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program, is being offered for “information leading to the identification and disruption of” everything from Hezbollah’s revenue sources and major donors to any of the front companies and financial institutions working with the group. The reward also targets “criminal schemes involving Hezbollah members and supporters which financially benefit the organization.”
The State Department says that Hezbollah pulls in billions of dollars annually “from a combination of direct financial support from Iran, international businesses and investments, donor networks, and money laundering activities.”
Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Michael Evanoff said Hezbollah “uses these funds to support its malign activities throughout the world, which includes the development of militia to Syria in support of Assad’s dictatorship and to Iran in support of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.”
Evanoff said that Hezbollah also spends money on “surveillance and intelligence gathering in the American homeland and enhanced military capabilities, including its claim to possess precision-guided missiles.”
Hezbollah has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization since October 1997.
The State Department also highlighted three “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” and members of Hezbollah as examples of the type of “key Hezbollah financiers or facilitators” about whom it is seeking this information.
Adham Tabaja is a member of Hezbollah who “maintains direct ties to senior Hezbollah organizational elements, including the group’s operational component, Islamic Jihad.” The State Department pointed out his property holdings in Lebanon and his business dealings in the Middle East and West Africa.
Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi is a “key Hezbollah financier” who the State Department says has “provided millions of dollars to Hezbollah generated from his business activities in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.”
Ali Youssef Charara is another “key Hezbollah financier” who the State Department says “has received millions of dollars from Hezbollah to invest in commercial projects that financially support the terrorist group.”
The Rewards for Justice Program has paid out more than $150 million in its anti-terrorism mission since its establishment in 1984. Other recent targets of the program include Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden and members of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which carried out the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, perpetrator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was captured in Islamabad, Pakistan, due to a tip stemming from this program.
This announcement follows Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement yesterday that the U.S. was no longer allowing any countries to purchase oil from Iran without facing sanctions. Pompeo said that “our goal has been to get countries to cease importing Iranian oil entirely” and that “we will no longer grant any exemptions”, saying that the the goal of the U.S. is now “zero across the board.”
Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, said, “With this decision, we expect to see more positive impacts to deny Iran the revenue it needs to conduct its foreign policy, to fund its proxies and satellites around the region, to fund its missile program. And that’s a very positive thing.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration also designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization after the declassification of military records which show that Iran was responsible for the deaths of at least 603 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
Iran has threatened to retaliate.
