BEIRUT: The US has targeted a network of West African businesses it suspected of funding Hizbullah, imposing financial sanctions against two Lebanese brothers and several listed companies.

Punitive measures were also taken against an alleged Hizbullah operative in South America.

“Today’s designation targets two of Hizbullah’s top financiers in Africa. Ali and Husain Tajideen’s multinational network generates millions of dollars in funding and secures strategic geographical strongholds for Hizbullah,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.

Ali Tajideen was alleged to have provided Hizbullah with several payments over a number of years – the largest coming in $1 million installments. According to the US Treasury, he is an influential figure in Jihad al-Bina, a Lebanon-based construction firm that functions as a reconstruction agency of Hizbullah.

In addition, Husain Tajideen was named as “a primary Hizbullah fundraiser and prominent Hizbullah supporter in The Gambia.”

The treasury designation order claimed to be clamping down on channels of funding for Hizbullah, officially classified as a terrorist organization by Washington, through penalizing businesses throughout Lebanon, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and the British Virgin Islands.

In addition, Bilal Mohsen Wehbe was designated for financial constraints after being named an influential figure in Hizbullah’s South American business operations. “As Hizbullah’s chief representative in South America, Wehbe has relayed information and direction between Hizbullah leaders in Lebanon and Hizbullah elements in South America,” a Treasury statement said Thursday.

“He has also overseen Hizbullah’s counterintelligence activity in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, the statement said.

“Wehbe has been involved in transferring funds collected in Brazil to Hizbullah in Lebanon,” the statement added.

The US Treasury said Wehbe and fellow businessman Ali Muhammad Kazan had managed to channel $500,000 worth of funds to Hizbullah bank accounts following the 2006 summer war with Israel.

The US has in the past imposed financial sanctions on organizations affiliated with Hizbullah. This week, The Daily Star revealed that US Embassy Beirut officials are alleged to have provided Washington with names and contact details of listed shareholders in Al-Manar television, the self-proclaimed “channel of the resistance.”

A cable obtained by WikiLeaks and seen by The Daily Star suggested that US officials advised the State Department to designate shareholders as being affiliated with “terrorist” activities.

Lebanon has extensive diaspora communities extending across the globe, particularly in the Gulf, Africa and South America. Another cable released by the WikiLeaks site suggested that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had voiced concerns over Hizbullah-related operations in South America, voicing disquiet in a document sent to regional US consulates about perceived Hizbullah-Iranian activities in places such as Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia.