US says Hezbollah gets money via South America

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) The United States froze the US assets of nine people and two businesses in the border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay who Washington said helped funnel millions of dollars to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The US government considers Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim group whose guerrillas fought a 34-day war with Israel in July and August, a terrorist organization.

The Treasury said the people and businesses raised and transferred cash for Hezbollah through the so-called triple border area between the South American countries, which is home to a large Arab community.

The action triggered a US executive order yesterday freezing their US assets and banning transactions with US citizens and banks.

''...It is safe to say that millions of dollars have been raised and moved by this network,'' Treasury Assistant Secretary for terrorist financing Pat O'Brien told reporters in reference to the triple-border area. ''One of the key ways money has moved is through personal couriers.'' For example, O'Brien said one of the people on the list, Ali Kazan, raised more than 500,000 dollars for Hezbollah as recently as August.

The US government has raised concern in recent years that the porous frontier region is a center of fund-raising and money laundering for Middle Eastern groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Brazil denies this.

The Treasury Department said the nine people named on Wednesday funneled cash to Assad Ahmad Barakat, who it called a ''specially designated global terrorist.'' The Treasury Department has previously described Barakat as a ''key terrorist financier in South America'' for Hezbollah.

Among the nine, the Treasury Department said that Muhammad Yusif Abdallah is a senior Hezbollah official in the region who owns a shopping center in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, where several businesses are owned by Hezbollah members. The Galeria Page mall serves as a source of fund-raising for Hezbollah, the Treasury Department said.

''Abdallah has personally carried money for Hezbollah, serving as a courier of Hezbollah funds from the (triple-border area) to Lebanon,'' the department said in a statement.

The Treasury Department said other Hezbollah members working in the triple-border area are suspected of trafficking in narcotics, counterfeit US dollars, weapons and explosives.

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