Hezbollah terrorists (file)
Hezbollah terrorists (file)Reuters

The United States Treasury on Wednesday placed on its sanctions blacklist three Lebanese men and companies they are tied to, calling them part of a "key Hezbollah support network."

According to the AFP news agency, the Treasury placed asset freezes and restrictions for doing business on real estate businessman Adham Tabaja and his Al-Inmaa group of companies, Kassem Hejeij and Husayn Ali Faour, and the company he manages, Car Care Center.

The Treasury said Tabaja is a member of Hezbollah, which is officially labeled a terrorist organization by Washington, and that Al-Inmaa is used by Hezbollah for investment and holding properties.

It said that Al-Inmaa Engineering and Contracting has recently obtained oil and construction projects in Iraq that "provide both financial support and organizational infrastructure to Hezbollah."

Hejeij, the Treasury said, works with Tabaja and also provides financial support to Hezbollah.

It said that Faour is a member of Hezbollah's operations unit Islamic Jihad, and the company he runs, Car Care Center, helps Hezbollah with transportation.

The Treasury said the sanctioned individuals and companies are examples of Hezbollah's "continued exploitation of the legitimate commercial sector for financial, organizational, and material support... which enable the group to carry out acts of terrorism."

This is not the first time that Washington has sanctioned Hezbollah, having in the past imposed sanctions on the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and two other members of the organization, for their alleged role in aiding the Syrian government in its crackdown on opposition forces.

However, it has also been revealed in the past that the U.S. government was providing indirect aid to Hezbollah in its fight against Sunni rivals including ISIS, as part of a wider strategic shift to cozy up to the terrorist group, which also includes intelligence-sharing.