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The US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, announced that the United States will continue to apply a policy of pressure on Hezbollah.
He said the Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil’s relationship with Hezbollah constitutes a cover for the party’s weapons, in exchange for Hezbollah turning a blind eye to Bassil’s corruption.
In an interview with the US Institute for Global Strategic Studies, the US ambassador said that Washington insists on its position to help fight corruption in Lebanon so that progress is made in this field, step by step.
The US ambassador indicated that from today there will be nothing free.
He explained that the US administration has not yet acted like the Gulf states, by moving away from Lebanon and not supporting it.
Ambassador Shia recalled that the United States does not support Hassan Diab’s government because it was formed by Hezbollah, but that it supports the Lebanese people.
However, the US ambassador will now monitor what the next government will look like to determine the US position.
Speaking about supporting Lebanon in the face of the Corona pandemic, the US ambassador said that Washington’s condition to help Lebanon confront Corona was to move away from the Ministry of Health due to the proximity of the Minister of Health to Hezbollah on the one hand, and dealing with friendly and trustworthy institutions on the other hand.
Last week, the US Treasury announced the imposition of financial sanctions on the influential Lebanese politician, Gebran Bassil, for accusing him of “corruption” and embezzlement.
In a statement, the United States Treasury announced the freezing of all assets in the United States belonging to Bassil, the son-in-law of Lebanese President Michel Aoun and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Energy, and asked Lebanese banks that trade in US dollars to freeze all its assets in Lebanon.
Basil’s assistance to Hezbollah caused an uproar in the Lebanese and Arab streets, especially as the target of the sanctions is a controversial figure seeking to rise to the presidential seat, according to observers.
For almost a year, Lebanon has been suffering from the devaluation of the local currency against the dollar, as it lost 80 percent of its value, leading to large numbers of Lebanese losing most of the value of their savings. in lira, in addition to keeping their deposits in banks, given the high rates of unemployment and poverty.
Faced with the difficult and lively economic crisis, Lebanon is stalled in taking serious measures to confront corruption, starting with the formation of a government of specialists, to open the door to international aid, despite the French initiative that prompted the French president , Emmanuel Macron, to visit Lebanon twice in less than a month, to reconcile the blocks. The politician to come out with a government bailout.
