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Families of Hezbollah MPs and Ministers Might be Targeted by U.S. Sanctions | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A Lebanese banker counts US dollars at BLOM Bank’s head office in Beirut October 22, 2008. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi


Families of Hezbollah MPs and Ministers Might be Targeted by U.S. Sanctions

by | Jun 11, 2016 | Middle East |

Families of Hezbollah MPs and Ministers Might be Targeted by U.S. Sanctions

Beirut-The issue of U.S. sanctions has now become a priority for the so-called Hezbollah amid information that Lebanese banks will take escalatory measures that include the closure of bank accounts of Hezbollah lawmakers, ministers and their families.

A verbal attack launched by the party on Central Bank chief Riad Salameh through its parliamentary bloc on Thursday was clear in that regard. The bloc considered his remarks suspicious after Salameh said: “We don’t want a few Lebanese to spoil the image of the country or the financial markets in Lebanon.”

Salameh said 100 Hezbollah-related accounts have been frozen since the U.S. passed last year a law called the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, or HIFPA, which threatens to sanction anyone who finances Hezbollah.

The Central Bank is working on implementing the law, he added.

Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Lebanese banks will work on closing the accounts in US dollars of Hezbollah MPs, cabinet ministers, their children and their wives. But their accounts in Lebanese Lira will not be frozen, they said.

BLOM Bank has already closed the accounts of lawmakers, ministers and all personalities linked to Hezbollah, a member of the party’s bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He described the move as “arbitrary.”

The source said that Salameh and the party have struck a deal under which they would abide by the conditions put by the Central Bank’s Special Investigation Commission to stop banks from taking unilateral decisions.

The bank that has decided to close accounts should review its measures and abide by the instructions of the Central Bank, which should monitor the implementation of its orders and hold accountable the sides that violate them.

Informed sources have told Lebanon 24 website that the measures taken by the banks will continue to put pressure on some institutions belonging to Hezbollah such as Rassoul Al Aazam Hospital. A decision on its bank accounts will be issued soon, they said.

Hezbollah is procrastinating on reacting to the Central Bank’s measures out of fear on Lebanon’s monetary stability, said the sources.

But they did not rule out escalatory measures by the party after its Loyalty to Resistance bloc issued a strongly worded statement against Salameh.

The “extortion policy exercised by the U.S. administration will not bend the army of Hezbollah or change its position,” said the bloc.