A seizure notice appears when attempting to access moqawama.org website. (Credit: moqawama.org)
BEIRUT — US Justice Department announced on Thursday the seizure of 13 web domains associated with Hezbollah, in an effort to "deny terrorist organizations and affiliates significant sources of support."
Of the 13 seized Hezbollah-affiliated web domains, five are registered with Virginia-based corporation, the Public Interest Registry, which manages the ".org" domain. The five web domains include: moqawama.org, almanarnews.org, manarnews.org, almanar-tv.org, and alshahid.org
The other eight web domains are registered to Verisign Inc., a Virginia-based global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure. These sites are: manartv.net, manarnews.net, almanar-tv.com, almanar-tv.net, alidaamouch.com, Ibrahim-alsayed.net, alemdad.net, and naimkassem.net.
“Today’s web domain seizures deny terrorist organizations and affiliates significant sources of support and makes clear we will not allow these groups to use US infrastructure to threaten the American people,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department will continue to enforce economic sanctions as part of our commitment to deploy all available tools against threats from hostile nation-states and terrorist actors alike.”
“The Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) is at the forefront of ensuring that American internet infrastructure is unavailable for use by international terrorist organizations, their members and affiliates,” said US Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the EDVA.
The seizure warrant document, seen by L'Orient Today, indicated that at least seven of the 13 seized web domains have likely existed to redirect traffic to the main Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar website — almanar.com.lb — which is based in Lebanon.
"On or about January 12, 2023, I reviewed 'almanarnews.org,' 'manarnews.org,' and 'manarnews.net.' While navigating to these domains, the user is redirected to 'almanar.com.lb,'" Special Agent Tina Show-Hwa Chang said, as per the seizure warrant.
"Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)... Lebanese Hezbollah, Al Manar TV, Ali Damush, Ibrahim al-Sayyid, Islamic Charitable Emdad Committee, Martyrs’ Foundation in Lebanon, Naim Qasim, and their members may not obtain services, including website and domain services, in the United States without a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)," the Justice Department's statement added. "No such license was obtained for any of the 13 seized domains."