Treasury Official Says US Pushes Lebanon to Crack Down on Hezbollah Funding Ahead of Elections

US Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury Department John Hurley, speaks during an interview with a number of journalists, at the US Embassy in Awkar, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut on November 10, 2025. (AFP)
US Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury Department John Hurley, speaks during an interview with a number of journalists, at the US Embassy in Awkar, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut on November 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Treasury Official Says US Pushes Lebanon to Crack Down on Hezbollah Funding Ahead of Elections

US Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury Department John Hurley, speaks during an interview with a number of journalists, at the US Embassy in Awkar, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut on November 10, 2025. (AFP)
US Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury Department John Hurley, speaks during an interview with a number of journalists, at the US Embassy in Awkar, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut on November 10, 2025. (AFP)

A high-ranking US Treasury official said during a visit to Beirut Monday that Washington is pushing Lebanese officials to crack down on the flow of funding to Hezbollah before next year's parliamentary elections and to prosecute people involved in a quasi-bank affiliated with the group.

Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley, who came with a delegation of Treasury and the National Security Council officials, said the US believes that the Lebanese group is trying to bring $1 billion into the country by the end of the year, but “exactly how many dollars they have brought in, we don’t know.”

Hurley said that Lebanese authorities have made “great progress” in cracking down on illicit flows of funds but that the US wants them to do more.

He denied that Washington had imposed any deadlines, but said, “We were very frank with the president, the prime minister and the other senior officials that there’s a window right now, particularly the window between now and the election.”

The parliamentary election is scheduled for May 2026, although some are pushing to postpone it amid a debate over the voting system for the large Lebanese diaspora.

Hezbollah and its allies made a strong showing in municipal elections earlier this year in the group’s traditional political strongholds, which the group is hoping to translate into gains in the parliamentary polling.

Since last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon has implemented more stringent screening procedures at its sole international airport, and direct flights from Iran — Hezbollah's main backer — have been stopped.

Hurley said funds for Hezbollah continue to come in as cash and gold carried in suitcases. Before arriving in Lebanon, the US delegation visited the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye, both of which have been transit points for funds coming from Iran to Lebanon, and urged them to choke off the flow. Hezbollah has also moved money through cryptocurrency.

But Hurley said given the scale of funds involved, “we’re confident that somewhere there are banks that are either knowingly or unknowingly facilitating getting money into the country."

He added that exchange houses are “a major part of the problem.” The Treasury recently announced new sanctions that it said target financial operatives who channel funds to Hezbollah through exchange shops.

The US has also urged Lebanon to go after Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-affiliated organization that is officially a nonprofit charity institution operating outside the Lebanese financial system but functions as a quasi-bank.

In addition to its military wing, Hezbollah has branches that run schools, hospitals, low-price grocery stores, as well as Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which offers interest-free loans and savings accounts and was a lifeline for many people after the country's 2019 financial collapse. The US says Hezbollah is using the institution to evade sanctions.

“There should be prosecutions of people who are violating Lebanese law, who are violating sanctions, using that entity to fund Hezbollah,” Hurley said. “And so we are encouraging (Lebanese officials) to take action.”

The latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians.

Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling. The low-level conflict escalated into full-scale war in September 2024.

A US-brokered ceasefire agreement nominally halted the hostilities last November, but Israel has continued to launch near-daily airstrikes in Lebanon and to occupy several strategic points on the Lebanese side of the border. It says it aims to keep Hezbollah from regrouping. Hezbollah has claimed one attack on Israel since the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, international funding for reconstruction in war-battered southern Lebanon has been largely on hold, contingent on Hezbollah giving up its remaining weapons, which the group has refused to do while Israeli strikes continue.



Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.


Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.


Gaza's Rafah Crossing Reopens, Allowing Limited Travel as Palestinians Claim Delays, Mistreatment

Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza's Rafah Crossing Reopens, Allowing Limited Travel as Palestinians Claim Delays, Mistreatment

Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A limited number of Palestinians were able to travel between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, after Gaza's Rafah crossing reopened after a two-day closure, Egyptian state media reported.

The vital border point opened last week for the first time since 2024, one of the main requirements for the US-backed ceasefire. The crossing was closed Friday and Saturday because of confusion about reopening operations.

Egypt's Al Qahera television station said that Palestinians began crossing in both directions around noon on Sunday. Israel didn't immediately confirm the information, according to The AP news.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington this week, though the major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.

Over the first four days of the crossing's opening, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to UN data, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening.

Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza are seeking to leave for medical care that isn't available in the territory. Those who have succeeded in crossing described delays and allegations of mistreatment by Israeli forces and other groups involved in the crossing, including an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab.

A group of Palestinian patients and wounded gathered Sunday morning in the courtyard of a Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, before making their way to the Rafah crossing with Egypt for treatment abroad, family members told The Associated Press.

Amjad Abu Jedian, who was injured in the war, was scheduled to leave Gaza for medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only five patients were allowed to travel that day, his mother, Raja Abu Jedian, said. Abu Jedian was shot by an Israeli sniper while he doing building work in the central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.

On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health Organization notifying them that he is included in the group that will travel on Sunday, she said.

“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),” she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”

The Israeli defense branch that oversees the operation of the crossing didn't immediately confirm the opening.

Heading back to Gaza A group of Palestinians also arrived Sunday morning at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to return to the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television reported.

Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the crossing's operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and Abu Shabab. A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.

The crossing was reopened on Feb. 2 as part of a fragile ceasefire deal to halt the Israel-Hamas war.

The Rafah crossing, an essential lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, was the only one in the Palestinian territory not controlled by Israel before the war. Israel seized the Palestinian side of Rafah in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily restricted even before that.

Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials meant that only 50 people would be allowed to return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients — along with two companions for each — would be allowed to leave, but far fewer people have so far crossed in both directions.

A senior Hamas official, Khaled Mashaal, said the militant group is open to discuss the future of its arms as part of a “balanced approach” that includes the reconstruction of Gaza and protecting the Palestinian enclave from Israel.

Mashaal said the group has offered multiple options, including a long-term truce, as part of its ongoing negotiations with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators.

Hamas plans to agree to a number of “guarantees,” including a 10-year period of disarmament and an international peacekeeping force on the borders, “to maintain peace and prevent any clashes,” between the militants and Israel, Mashaal said at a forum in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

Israel has repeatedly demanded a complete disarmament and destruction of Hamas and its infrastructure, both military and civil.

Mashaal accused Israel of financing and arming militias, like the Abu Shabab group which operates in Israeli military-controlled areas in Gaza, “to create chaos” in the enclave.

In the forum, Mashaal was asked about Hamas’ position from US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. He didn’t offer a specific answer, but said that the group won’t accept “foreign intervention” in Palestinian affairs.

“Gaza is for the people of Gaza. Palestinians are for the people of Palestine,” he said. “We will not accept foreign rule.”