BEIRUT, Sept 10, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah Wednesday condemned new US sanctions against two former ministers from allied political parties over alleged corruption and aid to the group.
“We view this unjust decision as a badge of honour for our two dear friends,” the Iran-backed movement said in a statement.
Hezbollah has long been targeted by US sanctions and blacklisted as a “terrorist” organisation, but the Shiite group is also a powerful political player with seats in Lebanon’s parliament.
“Everything that is issued by this administration is condemned and rejected,” Hezbollah said of US President Donald Trump’s government.
Washington “will not be able to implement its goals in Lebanon”, it said.
Washington Tuesday imposed sanctions on former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil and ex-transport minister Youssef Fenianos.
The Treasury Department said that Khalil, who has also served as health minister, helped direct funds to Hezbollah institutions to evade US sanctions against the group.
Fenianos, it alleged, received “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from Hezbollah in return for political favours.
The Treasury Department also said he provided sensitive documents to the Shiite group on a special UN tribunal that last month found a member of the movement guilty over the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafic Hariri.
Khalil hails from the Shiite Amal party of the powerful speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, while Fenianos is a member of the Marada movement of Christian leader Sleiman Frangieh.
Hezbollah is the only side not to have disarmed after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and has fought several wars with southern neighbour and archfoe Israel.