US extends sanctions on Wahhab and Hardan

President Barack Obama extended for another year Wednesday sanctions against entities the U.S. considers threatening to Lebanon's stability, a veiled reference to supporters of Hizbullah. Obama said in a message to Congress that he would prolong the "national emergency" which former president George W. Bush first declared in 2007, and which has been renewed each year since. The measures include freezing the assets of people considered to be threatening to Lebanon's democracy or stability. They are the leader of the Tawheed movement, Wiam Wahhab, and chief of the Syrian Social National Party Assaad Hardan. "Certain ongoing activities, such as continuing arms transfers to Hizbullah that include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems, serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty, contribute to political and economic instability in Lebanon, and continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," the president wrote. Obama mentioned "Syrian interference in Lebanon" but did not explicitly refer to the current conflict in Syria. However, sectarian violence has flared on a number of occasions in Lebanon since the revolt broke out in neighboring Syria in March last year.