Obama signs into law tougher sanctions on Hezbollah

US President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday afternoon legislation designed to tighten sanctions against the Iran-backed Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization, The Times of Israel said.

The legislation, formally titled the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, will impose tougher sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with the organization.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest praised the law afternoon, describing it as a “strong, bipartisan bill” that “intensifies pressure against the Hezbollah organization and provides the Administration additional tools with which to target Hezbollah’s financial lifeblood.”

The law reached the president’s desk on Friday after the House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of the bipartisan legislation on Wednesday. The Senate’s legislation also passed unanimously in late November.

The new law also targets the organization’s satellite television station, al-Manar, by identifying those telecommunications companies that air the Lebanon-based channel.

Source: MENA