Report: Washington Still Sees Hizbullah 'Terrorist Organization'

Washington emphasized that the United States will continue to regard Hizbullah as a terrorist organization and will continue to tighten surveillance and sanctions against its institutions and members, the Saudi Okaz daily reported on Sunday.

“U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon had stressed during meetings with Lebanese officials that the U.S. will not back down from regarding Hizbullah as a terrorist organization and tightening surveillance and sanctions against its institutions and members,” well-informed sources in Beirut told the daily.

They added that Shannon had stressed the U.S. position as for Hizbullah during his visit to Beirut in addition to “the US administration's support for Lebanese banks mainly the Central Bank with regard to the threats it has been subject to and the pressure it faced, and to support the Lebanese army in its war against terrorism.”

The Arab League, United States, France, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands,and Israel have classified Hizbullah as a terrorist organization.

In December 2015, the U.S. Congress voted to impose sanctions on banks that deal with Hizbullah.

In May, Lebanon's central bank instructed the country's banks and financial institutions to comply with the new measure against the Lebanese Shiite group.

Hizbullah has fiercely criticized the law and accused central bank governor Riad Salameh of "yielding" to Washington's demands.

The sources added: “Lebanese officials concluded after their meetings with Shannon that the U.S. administration has no intention of launching any initiative with regard to Lebanon's presidential impasse, which heralds the possibility that Lebanon's crisis will prolong until a new U.S. president is elected.”

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, and MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.