US sanctions 3 people and 4 firms for raising money for Hezbollah

The U.S. has sanctioned three people and four firms involved in a Lebanon-based sanctions evasion network accused of generating millions in revenue for the militant group Hezbollah.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also imposed sanctions on three people involved in trafficking of Captagon, an amphetamine, from Lebanon into Jordan.

The majority of the world’s Captagon is produced in Syria, with smaller production in neighboring Lebanon. Western governments estimate illegal trade in the pills generates billions of dollars for senior members of the Syrian government.

The penalties aim to block them from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them.

Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith said Wednesday’s action underscores Hezbollah’s “destabilizing influence within Lebanon and on the wider region.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. will “continue to target the illicit Captagon trade in the region.”