The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc stated on Thursday that Banque du Liban (BDL) restrictions on properties of citizens targeted by U.S. sanctions constitute an "overreach of legal authority and an abuse of power" and drag the country into "needless tensions," according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
"Measures taken by the [central bank's] Special Investigation Commission to place restrictions on the properties of certain Lebanese citizens included on U.S. sanctions lists, as well as actions targeting charitable associations and individuals active in providing humanitarian aid to devastated and affected villages, even though they are not on U.S. sanctions lists, constitute an overreach of legal authority and an abuse of power," reads the statement issued after the bloc's regular meeting chaired by MP Mohammad Raad.
The bloc added that this marks a "dangerous and unprecedented deviation that targets a wide segment of Lebanese citizens without any legal basis other than compliance with American demands and attempts to appease them.”
It warned against “the dangers of continuing this approach,” urging the central bank governor “to immediately rectify this mistake and reverse the unfair decision, as it threatens economic stability and social security, drags the country into needless tensions, and tarnishes the image of the administration and its so-called sovereign slogans.”
Lebanon is under U.S. pressure to curb the financing of Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by Washington. A U.S. Treasury delegation visited Lebanon recently for a series of meetings with officials from the central bank, commercial banks, and several government officials to monitor the implementation of anti-terror financing measures targeting the party.
In July, BDL issued Circular No. 170, which prohibits banks, financial institutions, brokerage firms, collective investment funds and any entity it regulates from dealing, directly or indirectly, with unlicensed companies, “especially those sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)."
'The enemy will not cease its aggression'
Regarding Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the bloc said that “the ongoing Israeli massacres, assassinations and criminal attacks on Lebanese territory — the latest being the strike on civilian and commercial facilities in Msayleh — send a clear message to Lebanon, its people and the world that the enemy will not cease its aggression and seeks to prevent any effort to rebuild what its war machine has destroyed."
Hezbollah said in the statement that the visit of concerned ministers to inspect damages and express solidarity with affected citizens recently and the authorities' decision to file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council against Israel are "steps in the right direction."
The group still said that the government should "intensify its efforts and strengthen its actions," rather than stopping here, calling on it to "mobilize its diplomacy worldwide and activate its international partnerships to condemn the Zionist enemy.”
Despite a cease-fire agreement reached in November 2024 following more than 13 months of war between Hezbollah and Israel, the Israeli army still strikes Lebanon near-daily and occupies five areas in the South.
Trump's Middle East peace initiative
The bloc commented on the U.S.-brokered cease-fire in Gaza, indicating that “Gaza, through the steadfastness and legendary resilience of its people and the heroism and sacrifices of its resistance, has shaken off the dust of the genocidal Zionist aggression fully backed by the United States."
Finally, the bloc said that Trump's plan to achieve peace in the Middle East is "nothing more than a failed theatrical performance with extremely poor direction, unconvincing even to its own promoters, and certainly not deceiving the peoples of the region, its resistance movements, or the free and honorable people of the world.”
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