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US sanctions Lebanese environmentalist group as front for Hezbollah terrorists

Green Without Borders provided cover for the terror group to operate along Blue Line boundary between Lebanon and Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

The U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on a Lebanese environmental organization it accused of being an arm of the Hezbollah terror group.

The Treasury Department’s 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 “Blue Line” between Lebanon and Israel “while operating under the guise of environmental activism.”

The announcement comes as tensions between Hezbollah and Israel flared along Lebanon’s southern border for much of last month.

The Treasury says Green Without Border’s outposts are manned by Hezbollah operatives, serving as cover for the terror group’s warehouses and munitions tunnels. Workers at the outposts have allegedly prevented United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon from accessing areas that the agency has authority to access.

Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said, “Under Nahla’s leadership, GWB has functioned as a cover for Hezbollah’s terrorist activities.” He further detailed, “GWB sites have been used to conduct Hezbollah’s weapons training, to provide support for Hezbollah’s activities along the Blue Line in southern Lebanon, and to impede the freedom of movement of the U.N. Security Council-mandated United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.”

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Miller emphasized that this identification aligns with the wider objective of curtailing financial and other backing for terrorist endeavors not just in Lebanon and Israel, but globally.

“The United States is committed to denying funding and resources to these terrorist support networks and will continue countering the threats they pose both locally and internationally.”

Orde Kittrie, affiliated with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and also a law professor at Arizona State University, asked: “What kind of environmental organization just happens to build dozens of military outposts all along, and mere yards from, a tense international border?”

Associated Press contributed to this report