US sanctions Lebanese businessman and related companies over Hezbollah links

Treasury Department said Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah is active member of group's global financial network

The US Treasury Department said the businessman used his senior employees and relatives to establish new businesses throughout the Middle East on behalf of Hezbollah. AP

The US Treasury Department on Thursday issued new Hezbollah-related sanctions, designating Lebanese businessman and the Iran-backed group's financial facilitator, Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah, as well as his companies.

Mr Abdallah, five of his associates and eight of his companies in Lebanon and Iraq have been added to the sanctions list of the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the department said.

Mr Abdallah is a Hezbollah official and an active member of its global financial network, the Treasury said.

He has supported the group for decades, carrying out commercial activities in various countries where the profits are transferred to the Iran-backed group, the department added.

Founded in 1982 by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and classified by the US and other western countries as a “terrorist organisation”, Hezbollah is a powerful group in Lebanon due to its heavily armed militia that has fought several wars with Israel.

It grew stronger after joining the war in Syria in 2012 in support of President Bashar Al Assad.

The US said Mr Abdallah used senior employees and relatives to establish new businesses throughout the Middle East on behalf of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah on Sunday faced an electoral setback when the group and its allies lost their parliamentary majority in elections in Lebanon.

Reuters contributed to this report