By Hamza Tekin
BEIRUT (AA) – Lebanese banks this month began to enforce sanctions imposed by the U.S. on around 100 figures and institutions affiliated with Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah.
Lebanese economist Ghazi Wazni, however, believes the move will have a “very limited impact” on the Shia group, which carries out most of its transactions outside the banking system.
Earlier this month, Riad Salameh, governor of Lebanon’s central bank, reiterated the commitment of Lebanese banks to implementing the sanctions, which are aimed at hamstringing Hezbollah’s financial operations.
“Hezbollah does not have bank accounts or conduct transactions in the Lebanese banking sector,” Wazni told Anadolu Agency, noting that most of the group’s financial operations were conducted outside the formal banking sector.
“The Lebanese banking sector knows this very well,” he said.
Last December, U.S. President Barack Obama approved legislation aimed at ratcheting up sanctions against Hezbollah.
The law threatens to sanction banks that do business with the group, which Washington — like the Gulf States — has designated a “terrorist organization”.
The legislation also targets Hezbollah’s Al-Manar satellite television station by identifying telecommunications companies that broadcast the Lebanon-based channel.
In April, the U.S. government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced plans to begin enforcing the sanctions on banks that violate the law.
This includes preventing foreign banks that do business with Hezbollah from conducting transactions with banks in the U.S. and the imposition of fines of up to $1 million on violators.
“Lebanese banks will abide by the law,” Wazni said, “with a view to protecting the Lebanese banking sector.”
