U.S. sanctions Green Without Borders for allegedly supporting Hezbollah

Aug. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday sanctioned Lebanon-based Green Without Borders and its leader for allegedly supporting and covering Hezbollah's activities in southern Lebanon near Israel.

"The United States rejects Hezbollah's cynical efforts to cloak its destabilizing terrorist activities with false environmentalism," Brian E. Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. "We will continue to support the many Lebanese civil society groups protecting Lebanon's unique and sensitive natural environment while also relentlessly pursuing Hezbollah and their support networks."

Green Without Borders and Zuhair Subhi Nahla allegedly used the guise of environmentalism since 2013 to hide its support for Hezbollah, according to Treasury.

"It has served as a cover for Hezbollah's activities in southern Lebanon along the Blue Line, where GWB has outposts manned by Hezbollah operatives in more than a dozen locations," Treasury's statement said. "These outposts, which are manned by Hezbollah operatives, serve as cover for Hezbollah's underground warehouses and munitions storage tunnels."

Nahla claims that he and GWB are not part of Hezbollah, but according to the Treasury Department he has acknowledged his and the group's Hezbollah affiliation.

Treasury said GWB outposts were used by Hezbollah for weapons training, to patrol the surrounding area and to maintain "containerized housing units 25 meters from the Blue Line" separating Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights.

The U.S. government alleged that these outposts have impeded UN peacekeepers in Lebanon under a Security Council mandate.

Hezbollah is a militant Shiite group formed with help from Iran in the early 1980s. It has militarily clashed with Israel and was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department in 1997.