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June 20, 2008

Treasury Dept. Moves on Hezbollah Ties in Venezuela

Douglas Farah

The Treasury Department's Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated several entities tied to Hezbollah and operating in Venezuela yesterday. This is the first time I can find of the U.S. government directly and publicly linking Hezbollah funding activities to Venezuela.

This is part of a larger pattern, including, as I wrote earlier, of the penetration of Hezbollah and Iran in Venezuela, with the blessing of the Chavez government.

Not long Iran began banking operations in Venezuela as well, in an effort to bypass the international sanctions in place and those that may follow in coming days.

According to the OFAC statement, one of the men designated, Ghazi Nasr al Din, is a Hezbollah fund raiser who has facilitated the travel of senior Hezbollah operatives to Venezuela to raise funds and open Hezbollah-funded social centers.

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 is virtually impossible for a normal person to book and fly on the flights.

The second individual designated, Fawzi Kan'an, is also alleged to be a facilitator for Hezbollah who met with senior Hezbollah officials to "discuss operational issues, including possible kidnappings and terrorist attacks."

The OFAC order also designated Biblos Travel Agency, owned by Fawzi, because he used the business to courier money to Lebanon. A second agency, Hilal Travel, was also shut down.

These events, taken in isolation, are not that alarming. But when looking at the neighborhood, as I did in this paper for the NEFA Foundation it becomes clear that this is a part of a much larger and more threatening pattern of behavior by Iran in the northern tier of South America.

I hope the OFAC action speaks to a growing awareness of the Iran-Venezuela-Hezbollah-FARC pipeline on the part of the intelligence and law enforcement communities. It is an awareness that has been sorely lacking to this point.

Douglas Farah is an award-winning investigative journalist and Senior Fellow in Financial Investigations and Transparency at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. E-mail him at doug@douglasfarah.com.