New US Sanctions on Hezbollah-Linked Network

 This picture shows the facade of the Artual Gellery in Beirut on April 19, 2023, an art gallery owned by Hind Ahmad, the daughter of Nazem Said Ahmad, whom the US Treasury accused of financing the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture shows the facade of the Artual Gellery in Beirut on April 19, 2023, an art gallery owned by Hind Ahmad, the daughter of Nazem Said Ahmad, whom the US Treasury accused of financing the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. (AFP)
TT
20

New US Sanctions on Hezbollah-Linked Network

 This picture shows the facade of the Artual Gellery in Beirut on April 19, 2023, an art gallery owned by Hind Ahmad, the daughter of Nazem Said Ahmad, whom the US Treasury accused of financing the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture shows the facade of the Artual Gellery in Beirut on April 19, 2023, an art gallery owned by Hind Ahmad, the daughter of Nazem Said Ahmad, whom the US Treasury accused of financing the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. (AFP)

The United States imposed on Wednesday new sanctions on 52 people and companies based in nine countries for assisting Lebanese businessman and art collector Nazem Said Ahmad, accused by Washington of financing Hezbollah.

In a press statement, the US Department of State said that in coordination with the Department of Treasury, it is taking actions against a global sanctions evasion network that facilitates the payment, shipment, and delivery of cash, art, and luxury goods for the benefit of Hezbollah financier and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Nazem Said Ahmad.

The Treasury Department is designating this network and the State Department is re-advertising its reward offer of up to $10 million for information on Hezbollah's financial mechanisms, including Ahmad, the statement noted.

It added that these actions are being coordinated among the Departments of State, the Treasury, Justice, Homeland Security, and Commerce, as well as with the United Kingdom, to target on elements of the network.

“Today’s actions highlight the tactics used by sanctions evaders, trade-based money launderers, and supporters of terrorism, as well as the risks of conducting business in permissive industries, such as the art, diamond, and precious gems markets,” the State Department statement noted, adding that, “We will continue to hold accountable those who would seek to harm the United States and our partners.”

In another statement, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it designated a vast international money laundering and sanctions evasion network of 52 individuals and entities in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong.

“The network designated today includes dozens of individuals and their associated companies involved in assisting Nazem Said Ahmad in evading US sanctions to maintain his ability to finance Hezbollah and his luxurious lifestyle,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department announced that it started the prosecution of Ahmad on charges of evading US sanctions imposed on him by exporting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds and artwork.

It said entities controlled by or operating for the benefit of Ahmad engaged in more than $400 million worth of financial transactions between January 2020 and August 2022 and that the conspirators were responsible for exporting more than $234 million of goods from the US between December 2019 and December 2022, consisting primarily of diamonds and artwork; and approximately $160 million worth of transactions involved the US financial system.

In 2019, the US had imposed sanctions on Nazem Said Ahmad, Saleh Assi and Tony Saab for funding Hezbollah.

Ahmad owns a large collection of art works. The US said he materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of Hezbollah.

As of late 2016, Ahmad was considered a major Hezbollah financial donor who laundered money through his companies for Hezbollah and provided funds personally to the party’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

Ahmad is a founder, chairman, authorized signatory, and majority shareholder of Beirut Diam SAL, Beirut Gem SAL, Debbiye 143 SAL, Damour 850 SAL, Gebaa 2480 SAL, Noumayriye 1057 SAL, and Nour Holding SAL.

Ahmad is a chairman, authorized signatory, and majority shareholder of Montecarlo Beach SAL, Beirut Trade SAL, and Blue Star Diamond SAL – Offshore. He is also a founder, chairman, and authorized signatory of Aramoun 1506 SAL.

The Treasury said Ahmad, who has a vast art collection, is one of Hezbollah top donors, generating funds through his longstanding ties to the “blood diamond” trade.

He is also accused of hiding personal funds in high-value assets in an attempt to mitigate the effects of US sanctions.

The Treasury said Ahmad also maintains ties to several US-designated Hezbollah financiers and associates, including Kassim Tajideen and Mohammad Bazzi.

In early 2019, Ahmad was involved in a bank loan with Adham Tabaja and he is also close to US-designated Hezbollah officials, to include Nasrallah and the party’s representative to Iran, Abdallah Safi-al-Din.

Additionally, according to press reporting, Ahmad purchased a tract of land in Lebanon for $240 million. A major investor in the transaction was a relative of US-designated Ali Tajideen, a Hezbollah fundraiser and former Hezbollah commander.

The investor acquired the funds from conflict diamond and mineral dealers, and Treasury-designated Hezbollah front companies.

In London, a 50-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of funding terrorism.

Officers said the police detained the man in Wales and then transferred him to London.

His arrest relates to art collector and diamond dealer Nazem Ahmad.

Officers from the National Extradition Unit - acting on an international arrest warrant - detained another man on Tuesday in west London, also related to Ahmad.



Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
TT
20

Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.  

Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.  

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other armed groups.  

Nunu said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".  

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.  

Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.  

Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.  

After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.  

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.  

- 'Room to pressure Hamas' -  

Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, "Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost", albeit with some "red lines".  

"And one of those red lines is that they should continue to exist, basically, whereas (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's position is that they should dismantle themselves," he said.  

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas's capacity to fight or govern, something the group has rejected.  

But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu's government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier's hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.  

It gives Netanyahu "more room to pressure Hamas", Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump "prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he's leaving the field open to Netanyahu... as long as the ceasefire is maintained".  

- 'Held onto hope' -

Among the bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday are those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.  

The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.  

While Hamas said Shiri Bibas and her boys were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed this, and many supporters remain unconvinced of their deaths, including members of the Bibas family.  

"I ask that no one eulogize my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now," the boys' aunt, Ofri Bibas, wrote on Facebook late Tuesday following Hamas's announcement.  

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has acted as go-between in the exchanges, called for a respectful handover of the hostages' remains.  

"We once again call for all releases to be conducted in a private and dignified manner, including when they tragically involve the deceased," it said.  

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.  

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.  

Since the war began, Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Gazans, some of whom have been released in previous rounds of hostage-prisoner exchanges.