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The United States of America imposed sanctions on two former Lebanese ministers, in an expected and expected step. The two former ministers, Ali Hassan Khalil, who held the Ministry of Public Finance for years, and Youssef Fenianos, who was Minister of Public Works in the government of the first era in 2016, which was trained by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
Among the things that the US Treasury Department says in its statement explaining the reasons for these sanctions is that “the two ministers cooperated with Hezbollah and got involved in corruption files.” Fenianos, “through his position as Minister of Labor,” was willing to sign contracts with the Lebanese state for companies linked to Hezbollah, and also won government contracts. The party received millions of dollars in official documents for the assassination of the late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “
According to what the ministry reported, “Khalil made it easy for Hezbollah to achieve financial gain and worked on financial transfers to avoid sanctions, and also helped exempt Hezbollah from paying fees on electronic income and refusing to sign checks in 2019, demanding its share. “.
While placing Hezbollah on the terrorism list, the United States does not issue any laws or impose sanctions on any political figure unless they are directly involved in supporting terrorism clearly and not with political positions, and therefore any sanctions. issued passes a judgment to the ministries of defense and foreign affairs. Justice and Finance, which is what happened in the case of the two ministers, and the sanctions are based on the Antiterrorist Law, “Patriot Law”, issued after the September 2001 attacks.
Wild shadow
The Lebanese were waiting for sanctions to be issued, but they did not expect Fenians and Hassan Khalil to be the targets.
From the beginning of his political career, Hassan Khalil was incorporated into the ranks of the Amal Movement, headed by the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, until he gained the trust of the latter, becoming its first man in all sensitive files, and his shadow that does not leave him. Khalil, who held the post of Minister of Health in the Najib Mikati government in 2011 and who overthrew the Saad Hariri government at the time, was on the throne of the Ministry of Public Finance from 2014 until the Hariri government resigned due to popular pressure as a result of the October 17 uprising. For a law firm for years.
And since 2014, the Ministry of Finance has been dedicated to the Shiite community, so Berri has entrusted the task to his political assistant, Hassan Khalil, and the latter not only enjoys the confidence of its president, but also the trust of Hezbollah, which he considers one of the most trustworthy in the vicinity of the Speaker of Parliament, according to what they say close to him. The president of the Council, and the Shiite duo insist on keeping the finance portfolio in his hand, and Hassan Khalil continues to play the role of shadow minister even after his retirement, as he informed in the secrecy of the ministry that had the last word while Ghazi Wazna was in the ministry during Hassan Diab’s rule era, and most important of all. Previously, it is the role played by Hassan Khalil in Africa and in the relationship with entrepreneurs distributed in various countries there, and the network of interests that ensures the financing of the Amal movement and beyond.
The Treasury Department explains the reasons that led it to include Hassan Khalil on the terrorism list: “From his previous positions as Minister of Finance and Public Health, Ali Hassan Khalil was one of the officials that Hezbollah benefited from to obtain economic gains, since it received the support of the party, which feared the weakness of its political alliance. With the Amal movement. It also transferred funds from Lebanese institutions to Hezbollah in a way that avoids the imposition of US sanctions on these institutions. He used his position as finance minister to ease US financial restrictions on the party and used his influence to exempt a Hezbollah member from paying most of the taxes on electronic devices, with part of the money that was paid going to to finance the party … “.
Longitudinal hand Franjieh
As for Fenianos, who also has a human rights background, he is the closest confidant of the former minister and head of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Franjieh, an ally of Hezbollah and who has a friendly relationship with the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad. . He was also included in the Franjieh stream until he reached the narrow circle of the latter and became the majority of the people who possessed his trust and entrusted to them all the sensitive files that Franjieh considers a strategy for him and his movement.
Fenianos manages the relationship between the Marada Movement and various forces of March 8, and with the Lebanese judicial and security agencies. Arefouh reports that he is close to former army chief Jean Kahwaji, and on top of all that, he manages the file of Franjieh’s relationship, and his movement has backed him, with Hezbollah, from years until today. Hizbullah officials fully believe in him and consider him a friend and ally. He is the keeper of Franjieh’s secrets and relayed his messages to Haret Hreik, that is, to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
More than that, Fenianos played a prominent role through his position as Minister of Works from 2016 to the end of 2019 by serving Hezbollah in financial projects that help finance the latter, as well as what the United States considers a fraud to the sanctions imposed on you.
The US Treasury says: “Hezbollah used its relationship with government ministers and one of them, Fannianus, to withdraw money from the general government budget and to ensure that party-owned companies won tenders under which they obtained contracts worth millions of dollars. Hezbollah awarded Fenians hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for political services. It also provided access to sensitive court documents related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and served as a mediator between the party and its allies. in Lebanon.
What do the sanctions mean?
It is the first time that sanctions have been issued affecting the narrow circle of Berri and Franjieh. In the recent period, there has been an increase in talks about the sanctions that the US administration will impose on Lebanese officials for their cooperation with Hezbollah. The American Wall Street Journal revealed about a month ago, according to sources. An official and well-informed politician, the United States is preparing to impose “anti-corruption” sanctions against Lebanese political figures and businessmen, in an attempt to “weaken Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon.”
It is striking that the newspaper, in its report, linked the sanctions to the bombing of the port last August 4, a fact that “accelerated the movement in Washington to blacklist the names of some political and military leaders allied to Hezbollah. “, and quoted officials that” the United States believes the opportunity is good. ” Now to isolate Hezbollah from its allies. “
The researcher at the Institute for the Defense of Democracy, Tony Badran, said in his interview with the Al-Hurra website: “The talk about sanctions against officials is not born today, but goes back more than a year, and today comes In a clear context, which is the strangulation of everyone in Hezbollah’s orbit and we are not talking. Here it is about those who are with the party, but about its direct allies ”. It should be noted, according to Badran, that “the sanctions against the first man besides Berri are to deny the distinction between the two networks of Hezbollah and Amal in Africa because they intersect in money laundering for the benefit of both parties.
Journalist and political analyst Hussein Abdul-Hussein puts the sanctions on the ground stating that “Hezbollah is for the Americans a terrorist organization, and there is no separation between its military wing and its political wing, and this is what the Europeans, that is, from the chapter, when talking about the party and dealing with it. “
While French President Emmanuel Macron led, on his recent visit to Beirut, an initiative that some people interpreted as a float for the party in some way, Abdel Hussein believes that “the sanctions are a clear message that there is no separation between the two. alas and that dealing with the party is cooperation with terrorism, and it is a message to all local political parties in that regard. ” If you don’t want to deal with the Hezbollah problem, then you prefer sanctions. “
He adds: “This time, the sanctions have other dimensions, which are to impose sanctions on all those who cooperate with the person responsible for this cooperation, as happened with Hassan Khalil and Fenianos.” He points out that “before the government was protected, but now the situation has changed and talking about corruption is only him.” However, to decorate the decision, the basis is clear, which is cooperation with the party. “
The French president had prepared his visit in contact with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, during which he placed him in the atmosphere of the French initiative towards Lebanon, and at the time high political sources advanced the passage of Macron in the framework to give a broad international dimension to his initiative, but this does not mean that the Americans totally agree with everything he says. With that and the French president does it. “
Badran says: “In the end, the United States is a superpower and does not think, as some believe in Lebanon, at the level of (the president of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gibran) Bassil or other local personalities. Rather, its abuse comes from the premise that Hezbollah has transformed Lebanon into the center of operations of the Iranian Revolutionary Harh. And dealing with it is in the context of the scope of its interference and interference in the main battle, that is, with Iran. “
Previously, information was circulated that the sanctions would affect Basil, which did not happen. Here, Abdul-Hussein says: “Basil was able to protect himself and evade sanctions because the Americans could not reach him.”
Basil suggests to himself and to those who preceded him, his uncle, the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, that it is he who ensures the Christian coverage of Hezbollah, and therefore, the fact that it does not include sanctions reinforces his position and position with the party, and that is mocked by Badran, who says that “Hezbollah does not care if sanctions are imposed on Gibran or it was not imposed, this is irrational talk, and the mentality of separating the party’s allies from this way is unsuccessful. I don’t think Americans are willing to do this. “
Sources following the sanctions dossier say: “What is happening today is more pressure on Hezbollah and all those who deal with and cooperate with it to weaken it, stop its grip on the Lebanese decision and put down roots that spread throughout the region and they even made it to the United States. “
Badran concludes: “The absurd separation between a military wing and another political wing is no longer happening. The sanctions are a first step towards sanctions under the Magnitsky Law, and Fenians paves the way for sanctions that could affect everyone, including the jihad of Arabs. near Saad Hariri. All red lines have fallen. “
The Magnetexy Act authorizes the United States to impose sanctions on human rights violators around the world by freezing their assets and prohibiting them from entering the country, as well as sanctions that extend in other forms and matters.
