The U.S. Places Hezbollah on the List of International Criminal Organizations

On Monday, October 15, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that five organizations, including Hezbollah from Lebanon, have been placed on the list of international criminal organizations. Mr. Sessions added that a new task force will be established in the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor and actively pursue the activities of organizations on this list. This task force, headed by Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, is required to present its findings and strategies against international criminal organizations to Jeff Sessions within three months. The task force will also have a subcommittee focusing on Hezbollah, led by Ilan Graff, a senior official in the New York District Attorney's office. Mr. Sessions emphasized that the experts in this center, equipped with the necessary experience, are tasked with addressing threats that jeopardize the "peace and security" of the United States. Alongside Hezbollah, Sessions mentioned four drug trafficking cartels: "MS-13," "New Generation Jalisco," "Gulf Cartel," and "Sinaloa" in this list of international criminal organizations. The Attorney General's directive implies that legal pursuit and confrontation with members and supporters of the organizations on this list will be intensified. Jeff Sessions stated that Hezbollah, while pursuing terrorist objectives, is also involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. Ten months ago, the U.S. formed a team to combat Hezbollah's activities in investment and what it calls the funding of terrorism through drug trafficking. The new task force in the Department of Justice will also integrate experts from the previous team, complementing their experiences and activities. The U.S. has long suspected that Hezbollah finances part of its activities through drug trafficking in Latin America. Washington's actions against Hezbollah have intensified, especially as Iran remains the main supporter of this movement. Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, reacted last year to U.S. actions against the organization, stating that "our bread, water, weapons, money, and everything comes from Iran." In recent months, Nasrallah also claimed that U.S. officials' reports regarding Hezbollah's drug trafficking activities to fund the organization's operations are "slander." He asserted that Hezbollah fundamentally considers drug trafficking, and even giving it to "Zionists," to be forbidden. Concurrently with the U.S. Department of Justice's action on Monday to place Hezbollah on the list of international criminal organizations, Israeli Channel 10 reported that a Hezbollah figure named Mohammad Ali Barakeh, identified as responsible for Hezbollah's international financial affairs, who has been detained in Paraguay in Latin America for four months, is being extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for money laundering. According to this report, Argentine police stated that Barakeh is among those accused of converting ten million dollars for Hezbollah into "clean money" at a casino in Latin America. An Israeli expert on Iran and the Persian Gulf told the network that further investigations of Mohammad Ali Barakeh in the U.S. could lead to "tighter economic sanctions against Iran." Hezbollah was established in the early 1980s with the aim of liberating parts of Lebanon that were then occupied by Israel and with a clear goal of fighting against Israel. The U.S. designated Hezbollah as a terrorist group due to deadly bombings in the 1980s, including the killing of hundreds of American and European military personnel in Beirut. The European Union classified Hezbollah's military wing as terrorist in the summer of 2013. In this context, the Arab League declared both the political and military wings of Hezbollah as terrorist in early spring 2016. Hezbollah, for its part, insists that it is part of Lebanon's political framework and has increased its influence in the recent elections in Beirut's parliament.