US Plans to Impose New Sanctions on Hezbollah

israelnationalnews

US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea said on Sunday that the United States plans to impose new sanctions against Hezbollah and possibly against supporters of the group.

“New sanctions will be put in place starting June 1,” Shea said in a televised interview, according to the Xinhua news agency.

She denied that the US intends to cause the Lebanese economy to collapse by imposing sanctions against Hezbollah, adding that the United States will make announcements next week to provide scholarships for students at the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University.

Hezbollah is a designated terrorist organization in the US and has been sanctioned several times by the administration in recent years.

In July of 2019, the US Treasury placed two Hezbollah members of Lebanon’s parliament on its sanctions blacklist, marking the first time Washington has taken aim at the Iran-allied group’s elected politicians.

A month later, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on financial institutions and suspected middlemen in Lebanon and Oman.

Included in that wave of sanctions was the Jammal Trust Bank and its subsidiaries, which the Treasury Department accused of “brazenly enabling Hezbollah’s financial activities”, including payments to the families of suicide bombers. The Jamal Trust Bank later denied the allegations.