The body of the Hezbollah point man for transferring money from Tehran to its fellow Iranian proxy, Hamas, was found Tuesday in a villa near Beirut, according to the AFP news agency.
Muhammad Sarur, 57, had been shot at least six times in the villa, located in the Christian-majority town of Beit Mery, overlooking Beirut. An undisclosed amount of money found with the body was untouched, a security source said.
The two Glock pistols used to kill him were found in the kitchen of the villa in a special cleaning agent to eliminate traces for identification, according to the Abu Ali Express news outlet. Sarur had been missing for a week before his body was found.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the assassination.
The US Treasury announced sanctions against Sarur, among others, in August 2019, saying he had “funneled tens of millions of dollars from Iran’s Quds Force through Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas for terrorist attacks originating from the Gaza Strip. Hamas’s continued violent campaign against innocent civilians and the State of Israel is to the great detriment of the people in Gaza,” Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said at the time.
“This Administration will not falter to hold Hamas and its Iranian leaders accountable for their violence. Treasury will continue to disrupt terrorist networks by targeting those who generate funds to carry out the Iranian regime’s violent agenda,” the Treasury said.
Sarur “served as a middleman … and worked with Hezbollah operatives to ensure funds were provided” to the Hamas military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
“As of 2014, Sarur was identified as in charge of all money transfers” between the IRGC’s Quds Force and the Qassam Brigades,” the Treasury said, adding that he had “an extensive history working at Hezbollah’s sanctioned bank, Bayt al-Mal,” a bank that was blacklisted by Washington in 2006.
US Treasury official Jesse Baker met last month with political and financial officials in Beirut, Naharnet reported. Baker asked the officials to block funds transfers to Hamas from Lebanon.
