US Sanctions Lebanese Network over Alleged Oil, LPG Smuggling for Hezbollah

A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023.  (Reuters)
A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. (Reuters)
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US Sanctions Lebanese Network over Alleged Oil, LPG Smuggling for Hezbollah

A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023.  (Reuters)
A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. (Reuters)

The Biden administration on Wednesday issued sanctions on a Lebanese network it accused of smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to help fund the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

The sanctions target three people, five companies and two vessels that the US Treasury Department said were overseen by a senior leader of Hezbollah's finance team and used profits from illicit LPG shipments to Syria to aid generate revenue for the Iran-backed party.

Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith, in a statement, said Hezbollah "continues to launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability, choosing to prioritize funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon."



Egyptian Police Kill 2 Suspected Militants in a Shootout

File photo: Mohamed el-Shahed, AFP | Egyptian army conscripts stand guard outside the Suez Canal University hospital in the eastern port city of Ismailia on November 25, 2017.
File photo: Mohamed el-Shahed, AFP | Egyptian army conscripts stand guard outside the Suez Canal University hospital in the eastern port city of Ismailia on November 25, 2017.
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Egyptian Police Kill 2 Suspected Militants in a Shootout

File photo: Mohamed el-Shahed, AFP | Egyptian army conscripts stand guard outside the Suez Canal University hospital in the eastern port city of Ismailia on November 25, 2017.
File photo: Mohamed el-Shahed, AFP | Egyptian army conscripts stand guard outside the Suez Canal University hospital in the eastern port city of Ismailia on November 25, 2017.

Egyptian police said they killed two suspected militants in a shootout Sunday during a raid on their hideout in Cairo’s twin city of Giza.

The Interior Ministry said the suspected militants belonged to the Hasm movement, which is affiliated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Hasm is designed as a terrorist group by the United States.

A bystander also was killed and an officer wounded in the exchange of fire between the militants and security forces in Giza’s densely populated neighborhood of Bolaq el-Dakrour, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, the militants were planning to carry out attacks in Egypt. Security forces in recent years have crushed an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, which at times spilled over into other parts of the country.