THE US continued its crackdown on terrorist financing on Wednesday with sanctions against two small gas carriers, five entities and three individuals that allegedly formed a sanctions-skirting shipping operation acting on behalf of Hezbollah.

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control said the network facilitated “dozens” of liquified petroleum gas shipments to the Syrian government and channeled the profits to Hezbollah, a US-designated terror group backed by Iran.

“Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability, choosing to prioritise funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon,” said Bradley Smith, acting under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a statement.

“Treasury will continue to disrupt the oil smuggling and other financing networks that support Hezbollah’s war machine,” he said.

The two LPG carriers sanctioned on Wednesday are the 4,811 dwt Alpha Gas (IMO: 8817693), and 4,447 dwt Marina (IMO: 9005493), both flagged by Tanzania.

Ofac said that US-sanctioned Hezbollah official Qasim al-Bazzal acquired Marina in 2020, and that “he and other Hezbollah officials received payments” from US-sanctioned Syrian government official Yasser Ibrahim and Hokoul Offshore, a US-sanctioned company controlled by al-Bazzal, for shipments made by the LPG carrier.

According to Ofac, al-Bazzal paid for the acquisition of Alpha Gas through Hokoul in early 2022.

Both Alpha Gas and Marina shipped LPG to Syria’s Baniyas port on behalf of Hokoul, the agency said.

Today’s sanctions bring the year-to-date tally of ships sanctioned by the US for Iran and terrorism links to 55, excluding the vessels designated on Wednesday for arms shipments from Iran to Russia.

The two small gas carriers targeted today bring the tally of LPG carriers sanctioned by the US so far this year to 10.