Israel Matzav

US Treasury freezes assets of Venezuelan diplomat for helping Hezbullah

The United States Department of the Treasury announced on Wednesday that it is freezing the assets of Venezuelan diplomat Ghazi Nasr al Din, whom it described as "providing safe harbor to Hizballah facilitators and fundraisers." The Department also froze the assets of a second Venezuelan, Fawzi Kan'an, and those of two travel agencies controlled by Kan'an.

"It is extremely troubling to see the Government of Venezuela employing and providing safe harbor to Hizballah facilitators and fundraisers. We will continue to expose the global nature of Hizballah's terrorist support network, and we call on responsible governments worldwide to disrupt and dismantle this activity," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Today's action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists, those owned or controlled by or acting for or on behalf of terrorists, and those providing financial, technological, or material support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. Assets the designees hold under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions in property or interests in property blocked under the order.

Both 'diplomats' are Lebanese born naturalized citizens of Venezuela. The Treasury Department accuses them of having used their positions to help Hezbullah.

Ghazi Nasr al Din is a Venezuela-based Hizballah supporter who has utilized his position as a Venezuelan diplomat and the president of a Caracas-based Shi'a Islamic Center to provide financial support to Hizballah. Nasr al Din served until recently as Charge d' Affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus, Syria, and was subsequently appointed the Director of Political Aspects at the Venezuelan Embassy in Lebanon.

Nasr al Din has counseled Hizballah donors on fundraising efforts and has provided donors with specific information on bank accounts where the donors' deposits would go directly to Hizballah.

Ghazi Nasr al Din has met with senior Hizballah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues, as well as facilitated the travel of Hizballah members to and from Venezuela. In late January 2006, Nasr al Din facilitated the travel of two Hizballah representatives to the Lebanese Parliament to Caracas to solicit donations for Hizballah and to announce the opening of a Hizballah-sponsored community center and office in Venezuela. The previous year, Nasr al Din arranged the travel of Hizballah members to attend a training course in Iran.

...

Fawzi Kan'an is a Venezuela-based Hizballah supporter and a significant provider of financial support to Hizballah. Kan'an has facilitated travel for Hizballah members and sent money raised in Venezuela to Hizballah officials in Lebanon.

Kan'an has met with senior Hizballah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues, including possible kidnappings and terrorist attacks. Further, Kan'an has also traveled with other Hizballah members to Iran for training.

According to the Treasury, the two travel agencies have been used to courier funds to Lebanon.

CNN points out that the US State Department has recently raised alarms about the connections between Thuggo Chavez's government in Venezuela, leftist rebels in Colombia and the governments of Cuba and Iran.

The Counterterrorism blog has a number of interesting observations about this order:

This is the first time I can find of the U.S. government directly and publicly linking Hezbollah funding activities to Venezuela.

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This, of course, is greatly facilitated by the direct flights now operating between Caracas and Tehran, with return stops in Damacus, Syria. The added beauty of these flights is that those who board them don't need visas, so there is no record available as to who has come or gone. And, despite being commercial flights, it if virtually impossible for a normal person to book and fly on the flights.

Douglas Farah describes this as

part of a much larger and more threatening pattern of behavior by Iran in the northern tier of South America.

Mr. Kan'an was interviewed by Al-AP and described the Treasury Department charges as false. Right....Actually, this kind of behavior is right up the alley of the Chavez government, whose increasing ties with Iran should be monitored much more closely than is currently the case.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:57 AM