U.S. Sanctions 3 Lebanese and Their Travel Agency over Alleged Hizbullah Ties

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday designated three “Hizbullah-linked financial facilitators and their Lebanon-based travel company,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Specifically, OFAC designated Adel Diab, Ali Mohamad Daoun, Jihad Salem Alame, and their company, Dar Al Salam for Travel & Tourism.

“This action comes at a time in which the Lebanese economy faces an unprecedented crisis and Hizbullah, as part of Lebanon’s government, is blocking economic reforms and inhibiting much needed change for the Lebanese people,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Hizbullah’s “widespread network of financial facilitators has helped the group exploit Lebanon’s financial resources and survive the current economic crisis. Through businessmen like those designated today, Hizbullah gains access to material and financial support through the legitimate commercial sector to fund its acts of terrorism and attempts to destabilize Lebanon’s political institutions,” the statement added.

The designations of the three individuals and their firm “demonstrate Treasury’s ongoing efforts to target Hizbullah’s continued attempts to exploit the global financial sector and evade sanctions,” the statement said.

“With this action, Treasury is disrupting businessmen who raise and launder funds for Hizbullah’s destabilizing activities while the Lebanese people face worsening economic and humanitarian crises,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

“Hizbullah claims it supports the Lebanese people, but just like other corrupt actors in Lebanon that Treasury has designated, Hizbullah continues to profit from insulated business ventures and backdoor political deals, amassing wealth that the Lebanese people never see,” Nelson added.

The Treasury described Adel Diab as a “Hizbullah member and Lebanese businessman who used his business to raise funds for Hizbullah and facilitate Hizbullah’s activities.”

“Diab has jointly owned assets with Ali Al Sha’ir, an assistant to Hizbullah fundraiser Hasib Muhammad Hadwan, a member of Hizbullah’s General Secretariat, who works with Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. Both Al-Sha’ir and Hadwan were designated by OFAC in 2021 for their Hizbulllah-related activities. Diab is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Hizbullah,” the Treasury added.

Ali Mohamad Daoun is meanwhile a Hizbullah official who is “in charge of the second district for Hizbullah.”

Daoun and Jihad Salem Alame are being designated for having “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Hizbullah,” the Treasury said.

Diab, Daoun, and Alame together are “the founders and partners of Dar Al Salam for Travel & Tourism, a Lebanon-based travel agency that they own and operate,” the Treasury added.