The new US Treasury sanctions on Hezbollah unveiled Thursday do more than ever before in 'legally' classifying the Lebanese militant group as essentially an arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Treasury action - which is certainly not the first designation against the group - underscored that it operated in "service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."
A State Department official characterized the re-designation as specifying that Hezbollah is an "Iranian proxy, not a stand-alone operation as implied by the previous designation."
"This action builds on years of US designations that have repeatedly documented the operational, financial, and logistical integration between Hizballah and the IRGC-QF," the official also stated, calling Hezbollah "an extension" of the IRGC's Quds Force.
"This underscores that Hezbollah operates with little to no regard for Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese people, or the Lebanese state," the US official added, which reflects longstanding Washington policy toward Lebanon.
The Treasury action had additionally targeted ten individuals accused of being part
