In first, US sanctions Lebanon military, intel officials for aiding Hezbollah

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday announced new sanctions targeting Lebanese security officials for the first time, along with four Hezbollah-affiliated lawmakers and the Iranian ambassador in Beirut, all accused of assisting the militant group in evading US-backed disarmament efforts by the Lebanese military.

What happened: The sanctions include eight Lebanese nationals, among them four parliamentarians affiliated with Hezbollah: Hassan Fadlallah, Ibrahim al-Moussawi, Hussein al-Hajj Hassan and Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb Fanich — a former minister who, according to the US Treasury Department, is now leading Hezbollah's executive council.

Ahmad Asaad Baalbaki and Ali Ahmad Safawi, two security officers linked to the Amal Movement led by Lebanon's speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, were also blacklisted. Safawi was described in Lebanese press reports as an Amal security official based in Baalbek and the militia's commander in the south. He previously directed attacks against Israel, the Treasury alleged on Thursday.

The new sanctions also hit Iran’s ambassador-designate to Beirut, Mohammad Reza Sheibani.

“By supporting the terrorist group, these individuals further the Iranian regime’s malicious agenda in Lebanon and actively obstruct the path to peace and recovery for the Lebanese people,” the US Treasury Department said in its announcement.

“Today’s designations target individuals who are impeding Hizballah’s disarmament, including members of parliament, an Iranian diplomat violating Lebanon’s sovereignty, and Lebanese security officials who have abused their roles to benefit a terrorist organization,” the press release read.

Why it matters: While this is not the first time the US Treasury Department has blacklisted Hezbollah parliamentarians, Thursday’s tranche is likely to be read in Beirut as a warning shot to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).

Among those sanctioned is Lebanese Col. Samir Hamadi, the head of Lebanese military intelligence’s branch in the southern region of Dahiyeh, a predominantly Shiite suburb south of Beirut.

Brig. Gen. Khattar Nasser al-Din, head of the analysis division of Lebanon’s domestic General Security Directorate, was also blacklisted. Treasury accused Hamadi and Nasser al-Din of providing “important intelligence” to the militant faction despite ongoing attempts by the Lebanese army — assisted by the US military and intelligence services — to dismantle Hezbollah's positions in the country’s south and cut off its supply lines from Syria.

Background: Congress opened the door for the United States to legally train and equip the Lebanese army to take on Hezbollah in this year’s defense spending law, seeking to capitalize on Israel's wartime gains, which have decimated the once-predominant Lebanese militant group’s leadership and driven it underground.

But key Republicans in the Senate have grown increasingly frustrated with the pace of the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah over the past year. Late last month, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), called for halting US funding for the LAF unless it moves to disarm Hezbollah “immediately.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham abruptly ended a meeting with Lebanese army commander Rudolphe Haykal last December and has more recently called on him to resign.

Wicker's call — which came after France blamed Hezbollah members for the killing of a French UN peacekeeper in southern Lebanon — was echoed by the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who called for an end to “the era of complacency and unconditional bailouts” for the Lebanese army.

Know more: Despite broadly cutting US foreign aid to Lebanon, the Trump administration has pledged some $287 million largely to the Lebanese army, with $45 million of that directed toward the country's Internal Security Forces last year.

Washington has been pushing Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, to normalize relations with Israel. The United States brokered three rounds of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, the first in decades.  

What’s next: The US military's Central Command and the State Department have been coordinating to identify Lebanese army units that the US military can train to more aggressively target Hezbollah.

The top US military commander in the region, Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, told Senate lawmakers last week that there are several units within the Lebanese army that the US government believes can effectively operate to disarm the group.