BEIRUT (Dispatches) – A
high-ranking official with Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has slammed the sanctions imposed by the United States on the countries that are opposed to Washington’s policies, saying the restrictive measures are a “crime” with the same destructive effects of a “military operation.”
Speaking in Beqaa province, head of Hezbollah Executive Council, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, stressed that the U.S. bans are aimed at killing people and bringing about destruction.
“The U.S. sanctions slapped on Lebanon and other countries that are not aligned with Washington are a crime not less than a military operation, because the objective is to kill people and bring about destruction and devastation,” he noted.
Safieddine further criticized the Lebanese who offer giving up to the U.S., saying such proposals cannot set the Arab country free from its problems.
“This approach can neither resolve the presidential case nor help the economy. The solution lies in lifting the U.S. sanctions against Lebanon.”
Lebanon has been without a president since last October, when Michel Aoun’s mandate expired. A caretaker cabinet with limited capabilities has been overseeing the government’s responsibilities in the Middle Eastern country.
Also in his remarks, the Hezbollah official noted that the Lebanese resistance will counter the sanctions through the programs, which the Americans are well aware of.
“The main goal of Hezbollah is to protect human dignity and raise its status… Hezbollah has mobilized all its capabilities for the nation and does not stop serving the people even for a moment.”
Lebanon is contending with its worst financial and economic crisis since its 1975-90 civil war. The Lebanese currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value since fall 2019 and the prices of basic goods have skyrocketed.
The U.S. has exacerbated the woes by putting Lebanon under siege and adopting the so-called Caesar Act, which has hindered the Arab country’s economic cooperation with its neighbors.
Creditors under the U.S. influence such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have conditioned the release of billions of dollars in emergency loans to specific reforms.