US Treasury Classifies Hezbollah As Arm Of The IRGC, Not A ‘Stand-Alone’ Group

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 of a network that transfers cash to the Shia group.

Hezbollah has responded Friday by stating that this action “will not deter” its fighting against Israel.

“All these unjust sanctions and classifications will not deter us from adhering to the path of resistance and the right of Lebanon and the Lebanese to defend their land, sovereignty and resources,” the fresh Hezbollah statement said.

The statement also asserted that the paramilitary group “does not need anyone to vouch for its Lebanese identity and patriotism.” However, it boasted that “Our close and fraternal relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran is a relationship we cherish and are proud of.“

While long-running cooperation between Iran and Hezbollah is obvious, including in the context of the Syrian proxy war – wherein the two defended Assad – most scholars of Lebanese history tend to see the group as springing out of a legitimately local or regional movement tied to Shia grievances and lack of representation in Lebanon’s impoverished south.

It was largely a latecomer in the Lebanese Civil War, but has grown to be the most powerful and well-armed faction among all the different players in Lebanon. 

The group is even more powerful than the small Mediterranean country’s national army, and has been in a decades long war with Israel for control of contested border regions, and standing against Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands as well as the Syrian Golan Heights.

But Washington’s new action is ultimately tied to the broader economic war towards completely isolating Iran and its proxies – something likely to prove easier said than done, given Russia and China are not going to play along, as well as perhaps much of the Global South and BRICS nations.