Earlier, Washington imposed sanctions on former Lebanese Foreign Minister and leader of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Basil.
The Hezbollah Party condemned the US sanctions imposed on former Lebanese Foreign Minister and Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Basil. This was stated in a statement issued by a Shiite organization on Friday on the Al Mayadeen TV channel.
“We stand in solidarity with the SPD in countering this unjust decision and consider American restrictions to be interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon”, – the document says. – “Hezbollah also rejected the US Treasury Department’s claims that Basil was involved in corruption. The United States, which patronizes dictatorial regimes around the world and supports extremist groups, cannot talk about fighting corruption”, – the document stresses.
Earlier, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department included in the sanctions list former head of the Lebanese Foreign Ministry and prominent Christian politician Gebran Basil, who is the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun. The official statement stated that the son-in-law of the head of state “is associated with corruption in Lebanon’s political system”.
According to Al Hadath TV, sanctions were imposed on Basil in Washington in order to weaken the influence of Iran and the Hezbollah Shiite party, of which the SPD has been a political ally since 2006.
On 8 September, the US Treasury Department blacklisted Ali Hassan Khalil (2014-2020), political adviser to the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament and former Finance Minister, and Yousef Fenianos (2016-2020), former Minister for Public Works and Transport, for their ties with Hezbollah.
On October 23, the US Treasury Department imposed restrictions on two members of the Hezbollah leadership, Nabil Caucus and Hassan al-Baghdadi, as well as Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi and three organizations affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, elite parts of the Iranian Armed Forces).