U.S. charges three with exporting drone parts to Lebanon's Hezbollah

[February 17, 2018]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal authorities have charged three men with illegally exporting drone parts and other material from the United States to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

It said in a statement that suspects Usama Darwich Hamade and Issam Darwich Hamade were in custody in South Africa while Samir Ahmed Berro remained at large.

According to the indictment, the trio conspired and attempted to export goods including inertial measurement units suitable for use in drones, a jet engine, piston engines and recording binoculars to Hezbollah in Lebanon from 2009 to 2013, the statement said.

Hezbollah is a heavily armed Shi'ite movement which is part of the Lebanese coalition government and backed by Iran. The United States regards it as a terrorist group.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Tom Brown)

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