U.S. targets Syrian government in new sanctions over illicit networks
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed on Wednesday new sanctions on individuals linked to the illegal captagon trade benefiting the Syrian government.
The sanctions, announced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), target three individuals involved in generating billions of dollars for the Syrian government through commercial operations and sanctions evasion.
Additionally, the OFAC sanctioned four companies linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah’s finance network that involved in generating millions of dollars for the group.
Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury Bradley T. Smith emphasized that these actions highlight Hezbollah’s destabilizing influence in the region and its reliance on both legal and illegal enterprises to fund its operations.
The new measures are part of broader U.S. efforts to disrupt Hezbollah’s financial schemes and counter the Syrian government’s involvement in captagon trafficking.
The sanctions block the assets of the designated individuals and companies and prohibit U.S. persons from conducting transactions with them, with violations potentially leading to severe penalties.
Khaldoun Hamieh is one of the individuals newly designated by the U.S. Treasury. Identified as a Lebanon-based drug trafficker, Hamieh has strong ties to Hezbollah and the Syrian government’s OFAC-designated Fourth Division.
Hamieh played a key role in ensuring the safe transfer of proceeds from Captagon sales to the office of Ghassan Bilal, a senior advisor to Maher al-Assad, the brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Additionally, Hamieh has sold weapons and armored vehicles to Maher al-Assad and, according to OFAC, has donated nearly one million dollars to Hezbollah.
Another designee, Raji Falhout, leads a gang that collaborates with the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate and Hezbollah, generating revenue through kidnappings and Captagon trafficking.
The third individual, Abdellatif Hamideh, is a prominent Syrian businessman responsible for smuggling over $1.5 billion worth of Captagon to Europe by concealing the drugs in industrial paper rolls.