A Lebanese individual, subject to sanctions by Washington for allegedly aiding the transfer of funds from Iran to Hamas‘ military wing, was discovered dead near Beirut.
According to a security source cited by Agence France-Presse on Wednesday, Mohammad Surur was found dead with at least five gunshot wounds at a residence in Beit Mery, overlooking Lebanon’s capital, on Tuesday.
Surur was found with a sum of money that remained untouched by the assailants.
The National News Agency of Lebanon reported Tuesday evening the discovery of the body of a 57-year-old citizen near Beit Mery, confirming that the deceased was the same person targeted by US sanctions.
The security source further revealed that Surur had worked in financial institutions affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese party allied with Iran and Hamas.
In August 2019, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Surur and three others, accusing them of facilitating the transfer of funds from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force to Hamas “via Hezbollah in Lebanon…to carry out terrorist operations emanating from Gaza.”
The Treasury Department noted Surur’s role in transferring funds from the Quds Force to Hamas’ Izz-Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades and highlighted his history at Bayt al-Mal bank.
Bayt al-Mal was designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a branch of the US Treasury Department, as an entity “owned or controlled by, or that acts for or on behalf of Hezbollah” in 2006.
In early March 2024, Jesse Baker, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Asia and the Middle East, visited Beirut, urging Lebanese political and financial officials to prevent money transfers to Hamas from Lebanon, according to press reports.
Mutual shelling across the Lebanese-Israeli border between Hezbollah and the Israeli military has occurred almost daily since the day following the outbreak of war between Israel and the Palestinian movement in Gaza on October 7th.
