U.S. Sanctions Lebanese Environmental Organization Accused of Aiding Hezbollah’s Activities

• Raven Ruma
• . August 17, 2023
• . Update: August 17, 2023 7:03 pm
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The United States has placed sanctions on a Lebanese environmental organisation that is allegedly used as a front for the operations of the militant group Hezbollah to quell its activities. Green Without Borders and its leader, Zouher Nahli, were reportedly providing support and cover to Hezbollah along the “Blue Line” border between Lebanon and Israel under the guise of environmental activism, according to a Wednesday announcement from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Recently, tensions along Lebanon’s southern border between Hezbollah and Israel have risen, raising worries about the stability of the surrounding area. The fact that OFAC has blacklisted Green Without Borders sheds light on the alleged covert actions that have been going on under the pretext of environmental preservation.

In the Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba hills, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and later annexed, Hezbollah, a Shiite political and military group based in Lebanon, erected two tents. Parallel to this, tensions have been heightened by Israel’s building of a wall in a village partially in Lebanon due to the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict. The situation has only worsened due to incidents like Israel shelling a border village in southern Lebanon.

According to the Treasury Department, Green Without Borders has constructed outposts staffed by Hezbollah agents that cover the organisation’s weapon storage facilities and ammunition tunnels. Additionally, there are claims that staff at these outposts have prevented United Nations forces from entering locations where they are allowed to work. Shipping containers and prefabricated buildings marked with the Green Without Borders logo reportedly refused entrance to UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) patrols.

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According to Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the State Department, the United States took this step to thwart and disrupt monetary and other forms of support for prospective terrorist actions in Israel, Lebanon, and other parts of the world. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Financial Intelligence and Terrorism Brian E. Nelson criticised Hezbollah’s attempt to exploit environmental advocacy as a front for its disruptive actions.

Although Green Without Borders insists on its dedication to environmental protection, charges from Israel, the US, and other Lebanese factions imply that it has been hiding Hezbollah’s military activities. The founder of Green Without Borders, Nahli, reaffirmed the group’s non-political stance and stated that their work aims to improve everyone.

Israel and Hezbollah have a history of hostilities, most notably during the six-month war in 2006. Hezbollah is believed to have over 150,000 rockets and missiles directed at Israeli land, so Israel sees the organisation as a serious and immediate threat.

The U.S. sanctions against Green Without Borders underscore the complex issues presented by the confluence of activism and purported clandestine activities, highlighting the complexity of the geopolitical scene in the area as tensions along the southern border continue.