US Demands Lebanon Shut Down All Funding Channels for Hezbollah

The United States has demanded that Lebanon close all funding channels for Hezbollah and has called for stricter implementation of legal and financial measures to put an end to the cash economy used by the group to finance its activities. This was reported by Asharq Al-Awsat.

The US presented these demands during a visit to Beirut by a delegation led by Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council of the Department of the Treasury.

“We need to eliminate the cash economy that Hezbollah uses to rebuild its military infrastructure,” said Gorka, adding that any financial outflow directed to Hezbollah must be stopped.

Reports indicate that the delegation examined financial channels outside the banking sector that have allowed the transfer of $1 billion from Iran to Hezbollah, and emphasized the need to strengthen control over land, air, and sea border crossings.

The delegation arrived in Beirut on November 9 and met with President Joseph Aoun. A statement from the presidential office’s X microblog highlighted that “Lebanon is strictly applying procedures adopted to prevent the use of funds for money laundering, smuggling, or terrorist financing and strictly punishes any type of financial crime.”

The post also underscored “the need to exert pressure on Israel to stop the ongoing assaults on Lebanon and compel it to implement the agreements reached last year.”