{"id":2474,"date":"2026-04-13T09:18:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/2474\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T09:18:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:18:30","slug":"u-s-sanctions-vancouver-company-for-alleged-ties-to-hezbollah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/2474\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. sanctions Vancouver company for alleged ties to Hezbollah"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Vancouver company has been sanctioned by the United States government for its alleged ties to a $100-million network accused of financing Iran-backed Hezbollah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Seven Seas for International Trading and Logistics was added to the U.S. sanctions list<\/a> in a move that targeted 16 individuals and entities in the Middle East and Canada.<\/p>\n

The sanctions allege the co-founder and chief executive officer of the B.C. company is Raoof Fadel, who is based in Qatar and involved with the \u201cHezbollah finance team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corporate records obtained by Global News show the sanctioned Canadian company was registered in B.C. in 2022 and remains active as 1380892 B.C. LTD.<\/p>\n

Its directors are listed as Fadel, as well as Mohamad Wehbe and Ahmed Wehbe, all of whom are described in the records as residents of Qatar.<\/p>\n

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In addition to sanctioning their B.C. company, the U.S. Treasury also imposed sanctions on Fadel and Mohamad Wehbe, who are both Lebanese citizens.<\/p>\n

They could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s corporate registration was completed by a Winnipeg consulting firm, while its registered address is a Vancouver law firm, the records shows.<\/p>\n

Neither responded to requests for comment. The company is not sanctioned in Canada. The federal government has not responded to questions.<\/p>\n

The B.C. government said it\u00a0was reaching out to federal authorities, who are responsible for national security, before taking any action.<\/p>\n

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Hezbollah is part of Iran<\/a>\u2019s so-called \u201caxis of resistance,\u201d a collection of armed extremist groups that serve Tehran\u2019s interests throughout the Middle East.<\/p>\n

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A listed terrorist organization in Canada, which calls it a \u201cradical Shia group,\u201d Hezbollah is part of the current conflict launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

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Canada\u2019s national security agencies have long reported that the international Hezbollah fundraising network was active in the country.<\/p>\n

A 2022 Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada terrorist financing alert<\/a> warned about Hezbollah\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

It warned that, after the Islamic State, Hezbollah was the international terrorist group most frequently detected moving money across borders.<\/p>\n

The bulk of the money went to Lebanon, often laundered through auto sales, FINTRAC wrote in its operational alert to financial institutions.<\/p>\n

In January, Global News reported<\/a> that a Lebanese auto trader living in Ontario on a work permit, Fahed Sowane, was allegedly laundering money \u201cto benefit Hezbollah.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Sowane, who denies the allegations, faces deportation over the allegations, enforcement action related to Hezbollah is rare in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments must do more to ensure that Canada is not used as a safe haven for Iran\u2019s Islamic regime and its proxies that threaten global security and target civilians,\u201d said Nico Slobinsky of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are calling for strengthened enforcement measures, enhanced scrutiny and removal of regime\u2011linked actors operating in Canada, and firm action to disrupt any financial or logistical support for designated terrorist organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\u2018Hezbollah financial schemes\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Amid the war on Iran, the U.S. announced on Friday<\/a> that it was sanctioning the B.C. company for its alleged role in a network led by Alaa Hamieh, whom it called a \u201cHezbollah financier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamieh, who holds Lebanese and Canadian passports, \u201cowns, directly or indirectly, multiple Hezbollah-associated companies,\u201d the U.S. Treasury said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAlaa Hamieh oversees a network of companies, controlled through family members and close associates, that launder and raise funds for Hezbollah\u2019s finance team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Located in Lebanon, Syria, Poland, Slovenia, Qatar, and Canada, the network has been involved in projects \u201cestimated to have enabled the diversion of over $100 million since 2020,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis network represents a critical source of funding for Hezbollah, which continues to embrace violence despite calls to disarm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The director of the B.C. company, Fadel, is \u201cinvolved in numerous projects with Alaa Hamieh and the Hezbollah finance team,\u201d according to the allegations.<\/p>\n

They include \u201cHezbollah-associated Seven Seas for International Trading and Logistics, which is the Canadian branch of Alaa Hamieh\u2019s similarly named Lebanese companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The listing provides Hamieh\u2019s Canadian passport number. Another Canadian passport holder, Usama Ali<\/a>, allegedly runs the Hamas financing office.<\/p>\n

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Vancouver company has been sanctioned by the United States government for its alleged ties to a $100-million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[17,1653,1654,200,95,1645],"class_list":["post-2474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-canada","tag-canada-iran-sanctions","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-vancouver","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}