https://arab.news/nygcj
- Treasury says Green Without Border鈥檚 outposts are manned by Hezbollah operatives, serving as cover for the militant group鈥檚 warehouses and munitions tunnels
WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions Wednesday on a Lebanese environmental organization accused of being an arm of the militant group Hezbollah.
The Treasury Department鈥檚 Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Green Without Borders and its leader, Zouher Nahli, for allegedly providing support and cover to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon along the 鈥淏lue Line鈥� between Lebanon and Israel 鈥渨hile operating under the guise of environmental activism.鈥�
The Treasury says Green Without Border鈥檚 outposts are manned by Hezbollah operatives, serving as cover for the militant group鈥檚 warehouses and munitions tunnels. Workers at the outposts have allegedly prevent UN peacekeepers in Lebanon from accessing areas which the United Nations has authority to access.
Green Without Border is a nongovernmental organization established in 2013. It says it aims to protect Lebanon鈥檚 green areas and plant trees.
鈥淲e are not an arm for anyone,鈥� Nahli told The Associated Press in January. 鈥淲e as an environmental association work for all the people and we are not politicized.鈥�
Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, said the US took action 鈥渁s part of our efforts to prevent and disrupt financial and other support for terrorist attacks in Lebanon, Israel, and around the world.鈥�
Brian E. Nelson, the Treasury鈥檚 undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the US rejects Hezbollah鈥檚 鈥渃ynical efforts to cloak its destabilizing terrorist activities with false environmentalism.鈥�