Lebanon 

U.S. and U.K. Sanction Hezbollah Financier

The United States and Britain announced sanctions Tuesday in connection with a diamond and art dealer accused of providing financial support to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. 

Britain said it had used domestic counter-terrorism powers for the first time to freeze all assets and economic resources belonging to Nazem Ahmad in the United Kingdom and barred anyone in the country from doing business with him or any company he owns, “as part of an effort to "disrupt an international terrorist-financing operation." 

Ahmad has an extensive art collection in the U.K. and he conducts business with multiple U.K.-based artists, art galleries, and auction houses, according to the British government's statement. "The firm action we have taken today will clamp down on those who are funding international terrorism, strengthening the U.K.’s economic and national security," Treasury Lords Minister Joanna Penn said in the statement.  

The United States, which enacted similar sanctions against Ahmad in 2019, announced actions against what it said is a network of 52 individuals and entities in multiple countries that have “facilitated the payment, shipment, and delivery of cash, diamonds, precious gems, art, and luxury goods” for Ahmad’s benefit. 

According to an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, Ahmad evaded those sanctions using a complex web of businesses to disguise millions of dollars in transactions involving art and diamonds. 

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement those entities helped Ahmad evade U.S. sanctions “to maintain his ability to finance Hizballah and his luxurious lifestyle.” Along with the Treasury Department, the U.S. State Department also called attention to a $10 million reward for more information about Hezbollah’s financing.

Separately, on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department announced a new Rewards for Justice for Ibrahim Aqil as it marked the 40th anniversary of Hezbollah’s bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983. The Reward offers up to $7 million for information leading to his identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction. Aqil serves on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, and during the 1980s he was a principal member of Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization, which claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing as well as the separate bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks that year.  

Israel and the Palestinian Territories 

IRGC and Hezbollah Recruitment in West Bank Foiled, Two Arrested 

Indictments were filed against two Palestinian West Bank residents after they had been recruited to conduct operations on behalf of Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Monday. Yusuf Mansour and Marsel Mansour allegedly agreed to smuggle and traffic military equipment in Israel for operatives who had identified themselves as representatives of Hezbollah.  

Yusuf is accused of gathering intelligence with assistance from Marsel on IDF operations in the West Bank on behalf of the Lebanon-based organization. The two had also worked to recruit additional operatives and received funding to aid them in these missions. 

According to the Shin Bet, Yusuf communicated with Hezbollah operatives Hudah Mahana and Haj Mohammad Radwan through encryption software and a dedicated email address. An investigation reportedly revealed much about methods used by Hezbollah and the Quds Force to locate and recruit within Israel and the Palestinian territories. 

The Shin Bet believes that Mahana and Radwan (who is also known by a pseudonym, Mohammad Bashir) are part of an IRGC Quds Force unit devoted to assisting Palestinian terrorist organizations against the State of Israel. 

Israel’s Defense Minister Indicates Multi-Front Conflicts More Likely

In a briefing with reporters on Thursday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said “this is the end of the era of limited conflicts. We are facing a new security era in which there may be a real threat to all arenas at the same time. We operated for years under the assumption that limited conflicts could be managed, but that is a phenomenon that is disappearing. Today, there is a noticeable phenomenon of the convergence of the arenas.” He added that Iran funds Hezbollah with $700 million per year; Hamas at $100 million annually; Palestinian Islamic Jihad with tens of millions of dollars; militias in Syria with hundreds of millions of dollars; the Syrian regime with billions of dollars; militias in Iraq with hundreds of millions of dollars; and the Houthis in Yemen with hundreds of millions of dollars.  

Syria 

IDF Said to Hit Sites Belonging to Hezbollah in Southern Syria, Then Drops Flyers

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped threatening pamphlets in southern Syria on Wednesday, warning Syrian soldiers to stop cooperating with Hezbollah, an opposition journalist reported, hours after Israel reportedly conducted artillery strikes on sites belonging to the Iran-backed group. The flyers, which were written in Arabic and addressed to Syrian Army soldiers, matched the style of similar leaflets that have been dropped in Syria in the past.  

The IDF refused to comment on the matter. In the pamphlet, the Israeli military appeared to take responsibility for the overnight strikes. The IDF usually does not publicly acknowledge carrying out strikes in Syria, under its general policy of ambiguity regarding its efforts against Hezbollah in the country.

“Time after time, the Syrian army continues to pay the price as a result of Hezbollah’s incursion into its military positions. The continuation of intelligence cooperation with Hezbollah in the region and at the site of Tel Kwdana will continue to bring you suffering. You are responsible for your actions, and Hezbollah is responsible for your suffering,” the flyer read.

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