The US on Monday announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the disruption of Hezbollah financial markets in South America.
The State Department's Rewards for Justice programme issued the announcement, with the request focused on the “tri-border area” of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
The announcement said the Lebanon-based group generates revenue in the area through money laundering, drug trafficking, smuggling and counterfeiting, among other activities.
It added the group also generates its estimated $1 billion in annual revenue from commercial activities across Latin America, including construction, import and export of goods, and property sales.
The Rewards for Justice programme said such illicit activity is supplemented by financial support from Iran, international investment, donor networks and corruption.
The tri-border area has traditionally been associated with organised crime, particularly financing terrorist networks that take advantage of weak public institutions and major urban centres nearby.
Argentinian authorities believe the two most devastating terrorist attacks committed on South American soil – the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in 1994 – were organised and planned by Iran and Hezbollah there.
The US designated Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organisation in 1997.
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U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
