Beirut: Daniel Glaser, US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing, has pledged that an American sanctions law that targets Hezbollah’s finances will not be relaxed.
Glaser, who was last in Lebanon a fortnight ago, returned to Beirut on Wednesday. He first met with the Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil on Thursday and was scheduled to sit with both Prime Minister Tamam Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday, to reiterate his government’s determination to uphold the global law that aimed to curtail terrorist activities. According to local sources, Glaser emphasised that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the Department of the Treasury was serious about applying the law.
US President Barack Obama signed the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act into law in 2015.
The law aims to hold those who “knowingly facilitate a significant transaction or transactions for or on behalf of Hezbollah or any individual, business or institution linked to the group” accountable.
Glaser gave a list of nearly 100 names to Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh who promised to enforce the law.
Among the names made public by pro-Hezbollah news outlets like the Al Manar television station as well as the Al Safir daily, were those of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, slain top commander Mustafa Badr Al Deen as well as leading Shiite businessmen. Sanctions were also applied to Al Manar as well as Al Nour Radio.
“The aim of the law is to fight Hezbollah. We came here to discuss its implementation, not to negotiate,” Lebanese daily Al Safir reported Glaser saying.
Hezbollah has criticised banks that have closed accounts suspected to belong to party members and has threatened to take “appropriate measures” against the government.
To soften the blow, Salameh offered that clients would be notified ahead of time but has not backed down on his pledge to enforce the law.
