Surprise, Muhammad Sorour, whose body was found on Tuesday in Beit Mary… was subject to US sanctions

A Lebanese security source confirmed to Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that the citizen, Muhammad Sorour, who was found killed on Tuesday, as a result of being hit by no less than 5 bullets inside a house in the town of Beit Mery al-Matniyeh, is subject to sanctions from Washington, which accuses him of facilitating the transfer of money from Iran. To the military wing of Hamas, near Beirut.

The source indicated that Sorour was carrying a sum of money that was not stolen by the perpetrators of the crime.

The National News Agency announced on Tuesday evening that the body of 57-year-old “citizen (M.E.S.)” had been found near Beit Mery.

The security source confirmed to Agence France-Presse that this man is the same man as Sorour, who is targeted by US sanctions.

The source said that Sorour was working in financial institutions affiliated with Hezbollah.

In August 2019, the US Treasury Department announced the imposition of sanctions on four individuals, including Sorour, on charges of facilitating the transfer of “tens of millions of dollars from the Quds Force,” which is responsible for foreign operations in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, “to Hamas through Hezbollah in Lebanon in order to launch terrorist operations originating in the sector.” Gaza”.

The US Treasury indicated at the time that Sorour was “responsible for transferring tens of millions of dollars annually from the Quds Force to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades,” the military wing of Hamas.

She noted that Sorour “was, by 2014, responsible for all financial transfers” between the two parties and that he had “a long history of working at Bait Al-Mal Bank.”

In 2006, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control classified “Bait Al-Mal” as an institution “owned, controlled by, or operating for or on behalf of Hezbollah.”

In early March 2024, US Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia and Middle East Affairs in the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, Jesse Baker, visited Beirut, where he urged Lebanese political and financial officials to prevent the transfer of funds to Hamas from Lebanon, according to press reports.