Report: Lebanon Seeks to Redress Consequences of New US Sanctions on Hizbullah

Concern of the new US sanctions imposed by the US administration on Hizbullah is not limited to the party, but also touches the entire Lebanese state for fear of negative repercussions on the country’s banks and economy, the Saudi Ashraq al-Awsat daily reported on Saturday.

It said the sanctions could affect the economy, already suffering from a major crisis as the result of delay in forming its government, thus preventing it from benefits from projects that were adopted in April at the Cedre Conference.

A US State Department statement said the bill passed by Congress and signed by US President Donald Trump in the past few hours "isolates" Hizbullah from the global financial system more than ever before, CNN had reported.

Economists do not rule out that new US sanctions will affect Lebanon's economy and banks if things do not go well, according to the daily.

“Regardless of the political position of this law, the consequences on Lebanese banks must be retracted in terms of protecting their dealings with international correspondent banks so they won’t cut-off business relations with the Lebanese banking arena or mitigate it,” said Paul Morcos, President and founder of Justicia Foundation for Development and Human Rights, in remarks to the daily.

Morcos stressed that "correspondent international banks take this law seriously, as it does not apply exclusively to transactions in US dollars, but all currencies traded around the world.”

On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation imposing new sanctions against Hizbullah. The bill expands the list of those who can be sanctioned for doing business with the party.

Trump said the new sanctions on Hizbullah were aimed at depriving the party of resources to fund its activities, threatening further measures.

The sanctions on the party coincide with Washington's willingness to introduce a new package of sanctions on Tehran, targeting Iranian oil sales and the banking sector. All of these sanctions fall within the framework of Washington's new policy to pressure Iran to "stop interfering in the wars of Syria and Yemen as part of a foreign policy to support its allies in the region,” Trump says.

In May, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on members of Hizbullah's top leadership, including its secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem, as well as members of the party.