The US Treasury Department has sanctioned Jammal Trust Bank for providing financial services to Hezbollah, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement on Thursday.
"The following entities have been added to OFAC's SDN List: Jammal Trust Bank...(Linked To: Hizballah)," the statement said.
The bank's affiliates, including Trust Insurance Co. SAL, Trust Insurance Services SAL and Trust Life Insurance Co.SAL are also on the list.
Treasury targets terror group Hizballah’s Lebanon-based bank of choice, Jammal Trust Bank, for knowingly providing support to the group via Hizballah’s Executive Council and Iran’s Martyrs Foundation, which funnels money to the families of suicide bombers. https://t.co/NtxcIZT92D
— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) August 29, 2019
California-based journalist Matthew Keys took to Twitter to quote a senior White House official:
"It sends the message to any bank anywhere...that they're going to be cut off, severely cut off from the U.S. financial system [if they are found to be in support of Hezbollah or other terrorist organizations]," Sr. White House official says. https://t.co/ayYWasg9oC
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) August 29, 2019
Earlier this week, Hezbollah's secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate to the series of confirmed Israeli airstrikes near Damascus, and to the alleged Israeli drone attacks on Hezbollah's office in Beirut last Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, warned that Hezbollah’s leaders, and officials from both Iran and Lebanon, should be "careful of what they say," stressing that Israel is able "to defend itself and to pay back its enemies."