
US authorities have seized over a dozen website domains used by sanctioned associates, businesses, and charities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Department of Justice announced Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
The 13 seized website domains include multiple domains for the group’s Al-Manar television, as well as URLs for top officials, deputy secretary general Naim Qassem, senior officials Ibrahim al-Sayed and Ali Damush, as well as affiliated charities the Martyrs’ Foundation and the Emdad Committee for Islamic Charity, according to the report.
The websites are no longer accessible, and only an image from American authorities announcing that they have taken the domain name appears. Al-Manar’s main web address, a Lebanese domain, is still operating.
“This seizure demonstrates the FBI’s persistence in using all of our tools to hold accountable terrorists and their affiliates when they violate U.S. laws,” Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division said in the statement.
“The FBI, along with our international partners, will continue to seek out those individuals who contribute to the advancement of Lebanese Hezbollah’s malign activities and ensure they are brought to justice, regardless of where, or how, they attempt to hide,” he added.
Hezbollah is blacklisted in the US as a terrorist organization, and Washington has slapped sanctions on its members, associates, and affiliated businesses and charities in recent years.
In January, the US slapped sanctions on a high-profile Lebanese economist alleged to be assisting Hezbollah with its financial operations.
A month earlier, Washington slapped terrorism sanctions on two accountants and two companies in Lebanon for providing Hezbollah with financial services.