The body of Mohammad Sarur, a Lebanese financier for Iran, sanctioned by the US for involvement in sending funds from Iran to its terror proxies, was discovered on Tuesday in a suspected assassination.
Lebanese citizen Sarur was found at home in possession of an undisclosed sum of money left untouched by the assassin.
Sarur has known affiliations with financial institutions linked to terror group Hezbollah, backed by Iran. In August 2019, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Sarur and others, accusing them of transferring "tens of millions of dollars" from the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards through Hezbollah in Lebanon “to Hamas for terrorist attacks originating from the Gaza Strip.”
The Treasury revealed Sarur's role as a “middleman” between Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and Hezbollah, collaborating with operatives to also facilitate funds for Hamas's armed wing, the Izz-a-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza.
“As of 2014, Sarur was identified as in charge of all money transfers” between the Quds Force and the Qassam Brigades, the Treasury added.
According to the Treasury, Sarur also has an extensive history working at Hezbollah's sanctioned bank, Bayt al-Mal. Washington blacklisted Bayt al-Mal in 2006.
Since October 7’s Hamas invasion of Israel, alongside the subsequent war in Gaza, Lebanese Hezbollah has been engaged in daily clashes with the Israeli military. Proxies in Syria and Yemen have also joined the offensive in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
October 7’s attacks saw 1,200 mostly civilians murdered and 250 or more hostages taken to Gaza. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in a bid to rescue the hostages and eliminate Hamas has led to over 32,000 deaths according to Hamas. Israel claims around 13,000 terrorists have been killed since the war began.
