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Beirut – The United States increased its pressure on the Lebanese Hezbollah, as it included two of its leaders on the terrorism list, in a move that apparently reflects a separation between the two tracks of negotiations on the demarcation of the borders between Israel and Lebanon and the formation of a new Lebanese government; and the intensification of pressure on the Iranian-backed party it considers. A serious threat to international security.
And the US Treasury announced that the United States had imposed sanctions on two Hezbollah officials, namely Nabil Kaouk, a member of the Party’s Executive Council who fought during the Israeli military occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000, and Hassan Al -Baghdadi.
The Treasury said that Qaouq and Al-Baghdadi are members of the Hezbollah Council responsible for electing the Shura Council, the party’s highest decision-making body “that shapes policies and controls all aspects of activities, including military. “.
He added that Kaouk made speeches threatening to fight Israel, denouncing the American presence in the Middle East and praising the method of Hezbollah attacks. Al-Baghdadi, in turn, defended the attacks against Americans and praised the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its fighters in Syria and Iraq for attacking US military bases, he added.
Such a move freezes any assets in the United States of those on the blacklist and generally prevents Americans from doing business with them. The ministry said that those who engage in certain transactions with people on the blacklist are also subject to sanctions.
The new sanctions come in a package that also targeted entities linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, as well as Tehran’s ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi.
The United States announced this week that it had allocated $ 5 million in financial rewards for information on Hezbollah military leaders, Haitham Ali Tabatabai and Youssef Khalil Harb, for their role in the party’s operations in Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories.
Observers believe that successive US announcements of sanctions against Hezbollah and its backer Iran are not without electoral considerations, especially with the upcoming presidential elections in the United States.
Observers note that the Donald Trump administration believes that exerting maximum pressure on Iran and its weapons would push Tehran to give in to the demands of Washington and allied powers in the region, in contrast, the Iranian regime believes it has no choice. They have to weather the storm of the American election in the hopes that Democrat Joe wins. Biden.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the world to classify Hezbollah as a fully “terrorist” organization. “On the anniversary of the murder of 241 brave US servicemen in the 1983 terrorist attack on the Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut, the United States calls on all countries to designate Hezbollah as a fully terrorist organization,” he tweeted on Twitter. .
Observers say that if Trump wins a new term and this is highly likely despite opinion polls favoring Biden, Iran will inevitably find itself in a difficult position that may force him to give in and sit at the table on the terms. Americans.
Observers note that Iran’s belief that the matter will be easier in the presence of Biden may be wrong, especially since many facts have changed and therefore the nuclear deal signed by the Barack Obama administration is not likely to return. and Trump withdrew from him.
The United States apparently separates the negotiations to demarcate the Israeli-Lebanese borders that began earlier this month and are likely to resume next Wednesday, and the sanctions against Hezbollah, and this also applies to the Lebanese government formation record, which witnessed a breakthrough Thursday after Future Movement leader Saad Hariri was able to get the job albeit with a weak majority.
David Schenker, the US Under Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, previously confirmed that the formation of the Lebanese government will not change Washington’s policies to continue to impose sanctions on Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon.
“Whichever government comes next, it must commit and be able to implement reforms that can create economic opportunity, better governance and eliminate endemic corruption,” Schenker told a news conference.
The US official declined to comment on Hariri’s inauguration as prime minister for a fourth term to face the worst crisis in the country since the 1975-1990 civil war. “We have a lot to do to fix it, so we stick to principles more than people and we will have reservations about making judgments,” Schenker said.
On Friday, Hariri began efforts to form a new government made up of specialists, and while political forces, even those who did not appoint him to the post, appear to support these efforts, analysts believe that the Future Movement leader’s task will not it will be easy.
“We will form a government of specialists who will carry out the work according to the French reform document, which includes reforms that we should have taken for a long time, but now we will do, and unfortunately all the delay has brought us here,” said the prime minister. appointed at the conclusion of non-binding parliamentary consultations. That “there is a collapse in the country and we must face this opportunity and put aside the difference and be positive until trust is restored, either between the citizen and the State, or between the State and the international community.”
Last September, France presented an initiative to form a government of specialists for a period of months to undertake the reforms demanded by the international community, including the electrical file, to be followed by parliamentary elections, and while the political forces, without exception, They showed their support for the initiative, he retired to the first test.
And obstacles prevented Mustafa Adib from forming the government, notably the adherence to the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance by the Shiite duo “Amal Movement and Hezbollah”, which returned Hariri to the forefront of the Lebanese scene.
Lebanon has been suffering, for months, an economic crisis that is the worst since the end of the civil war (1975-1990), in addition to severe political polarization, in a scenario in which the interests of regional and western countries collide .
