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Reuters Brian Snyder
The headquarters of the United States Department of the Treasury.
The United States announced today, Tuesday, that it has blacklisted two former Lebanese ministers because of what it described as their support for the Lebanese “Hezbollah,” which Washington considers a terrorist organization.
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The US Treasury said in a statement that it had imposed sanctions on the former Lebanese government’s Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos and former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil.
The US Treasury accused both Fenianos and Khalil of providing material and financial support to “Hezbollah” and of being involved in acts of corruption.
US sanctions include freezing the assets of those targeted in the United States and preventing US citizens and businesses from doing business with them.
Meanwhile, US Undersecretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Schenker said that “sanctions against Lebanese officials have begun and will continue, and officials must listen to what the Lebanese people are asking for.”
He continued: “These sanctions should be a message to Lebanese officials, in the sense that whoever cooperates with” Hezbollah “will be punished.”
This comes as a result of an escalation of US measures against the Iranian-backed group after the attack in the port of Beirut. This was expected by some media reports, which spoke of the US effort to intensify pressure on “Hassaballah” in light of the August 4 disaster.
Source: Agencies
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