ABL team to visit US after anti-Hezbollah law

A delegation from the Association of banks in Lebanon (ABL) under Chairman Joseph Torbey will visit Washington and New York in the last week of January, according to the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar.

Banking sources said the visit - which comes after the US issued a law imposing sanctions on Hezbollah – does not come in response to the harsh message of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in which he called on Lebanese banks not to kowtow to the US Administration sanctions against Hezbollah.

The Lebanese banking sector does not have any problem with the US Administration which is closely following up Lebanon's adherence to the international law.

The visit is meant to underline that the Lebanese banking sector will continue abiding by the international law, the sources said.

The delegation will meet with officials from the US Departments of Treasury and Foreign Affairs as well as Congress members who sanctioned the anti-Hezbollah law.

Banking experts believe that the US sanctions against Hezbollah are not weird as the US tension with Iran-backed Hezbollah was not defused by the US-Iranian nuke deal, it has however heightened. The US decided to to target Hezbollah’s financial lifeblood to sap it.

Source: MENA