Hezbollah calls US sanctions on Lebanon ‘act of aggression’

Lebanese Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem says US sanctions on Lebanon are an act of aggression and a failed attempt to “bring Lebanon to its knees.”

“The US sanctions are aimed at changing the political equation in Lebanon,” Sheikh Qassem said in an interview with RT Arabic published on Thursday.

He said the US sanctions imposed on Lebanese figures or entities wouldn’t weaken the Lebanese people’s determination.

The Hezbollah official said the US’s policy toward Lebanon was to keep the country “under pressure.”

The US on Tuesday targeted former Lebanese Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil from the Shia Amal Party, and former Transport Minister Youssef Fenianos from the Christian Marada Movement with illegal sanctions over support for Hezbollah.

Amal and Marada condemned the sanctions, stressing that the measures wouldn’t change their national principles.

Hezbollah also denounced the sanctions in a statement issued on Wednesday, saying the administration of President Donald Trump was “a terrorist authority” wreaking havoc throughout the world.

Sheikh Qassem has himself been targeted with the illegal US sanctions, too.

SS