The “Green Without Borders” logo on one of its projects in southern Lebanon, which it uses to support Hezbollah
Hizb allah
The Lebanese association “Green Without Borders” and its director, Zuhair Nahle, provided support and cover for Hezbollah’s operations in southern Lebanon along the Blue Line.
Posted on: August 16, 2023: 08:24 PM GST Last updated: August 16, 2023: 09:59 PM GST
Today, Wednesday, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against the Lebanese “Green Without Borders” association and its director, Zuhair Nahle, for their support of Hezbollah.
The US Treasury said in a statement that the association had provided “support and cover for” Hezbollah operations in southern Lebanon along the Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel over the past decade.
She added that the association “operates publicly under the guise” of environmental activism.
For its part, the US State Department said on its website that imposing sanctions on the Lebanese “Green Without Borders” association aims to prevent and stop any material support for terrorist attacks in Lebanon, Israel and around the world.
“The United States is committed to working to deny terrorist networks funding and resources, and we will continue to confront the threats posed by these networks, both domestically and internationally,” the State Department statement said.
The ministry said in a statement that this association is in fact “a cover for Hezbollah’s activities along the Blue Line, as the association has sites run by its members at dozens of points.”
The statement indicated that these sites are a cover for underground warehouses and tunnels in which Hezbollah stores ammunition. He added that the party also uses these sites to train its members on weapons and to conduct patrols.
And the ministry continued in its statement, “Since 2013 (the date of the establishment of the organization), Green Without Borders has used its resources to support Hezbollah’s activities and has been officially associated with its construction company. The cooperation between Hezbollah and Green Without Borders has been widely documented by the press, especially the official media.” affiliated with Hezbollah.
According to the statement, the sanctions also include the head of the “Green Without Borders” association, Zuhair Subhi Nahla, who admitted, according to the ministry, that the role of his non-governmental organization is “to provide a wall to protect Hezbollah” and acknowledged several times “that he and the Green Without Borders association” belong to Hezbollah.
The sanctions mainly stipulate freezing the assets of the association and its president in the United States of America, in addition to preventing any American citizen or entity from conducting commercial exchanges with them.
According to its official website, Green Without Borders is a non-governmental organization dedicated to planting trees. As for its objectives, it revolves around environmental and agricultural education and organizing afforestation campaigns in villages and regions in southern Lebanon.
However, in 2019, Israel confirmed that the association is a front that allowed Hezbollah to use its sites in the Avivim operation in September, when the party fired Kornet missiles from the vicinity of its center against the Israeli army. In addition, the Israeli mission to the United Nations has accused it more than once of being part of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.
The Washington Institute supported what Tel Aviv said with a report that identified eight previously unknown “Green Without Borders” sites, some of which contain watchtowers and other monitoring infrastructure, along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Read also
2023-08-16 17:59:15
#Hezbollah #sanctions #association #supports #Hezbollah #guise #environmental #activity
