The United States sanctioned the Hezbollah proxy group Green Without Borders (GWB) organization and its leader Zuhair Subhi Nahla and designated it as a terrorist group.
“Under Nahla’s leadership, GWB has functioned as a cover for Hezbollah’s terrorist activities,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement he issued on Wednesday.
“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 UN Security Council-mandated United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).”
“We are taking this action as part of our efforts to prevent and disrupt financial and other support for terrorist attacks in Lebanon, Israel, and around the world.
“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,” Miller added.
Who are the Hezbollah proxy group Green Without Borders?
The US Treasury explained that Green Without Borders was founded in 2013 and had portrayed itself as an environmental group.
It has placed more than a dozen structures along Israel’s northern border that “serve as cover for Hezbollah’s underground warehouses and munitions storage tunnels,” the Treasury said, adding that some of its sites are only 25 meters from Israel’s border.
“Alleged encroachment on private property by GWB and Hezbollah and propagandizing by GWB have also caused well-documented clashes with locals,” the Treasury said.