US slaps sanctions on Hezbollah over Syria role

The U.S. slapped sanctions against Lebanon’s Hezbollah Friday over its alleged role in supporting the Syrian regime and said it feared the group may be planning imminent attacks in Europe and around the world. The U.S. Treasury Department targeted Hezbollah for “training, advice and extensive logistical support to the government of Syria’s increasingly ruthless efforts to fight against the opposition.” It also blamed the group for coordinating Iranian assistance to the Syrian government. A Hezbollah official contacted by The Daily Star Friday declined to comment on the issue. Americans have been banned from doing business with Hezbollah since the U.S. declared it a foreign terrorist organization in the 1990s. “Hezbollah’s extensive support to the Syrian government’s violent suppression of the Syrian people exposes the true nature of this terrorist organization and its destabilizing presence in the region,” the Treasury Department’s sanctions chief, David S. Cohen, said. Asked what the latest U.S. action against Hezbollah might accomplish, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, Daniel Benjamin, said he hoped it would lead other countries to follow suit. “That would limit the amount of space for Hezbollah to operate in,” he said. The move against Hezbollah came as part of new U.S. sanctions that mainly targeted Syria’s oil industry. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the penalties against state-run energy firm Sytrol come after it delivered $36 million worth of gasoline to Iran in April. Benjamin also warned Friday against possible attacks by Hezbollah in Europe and around the world. “Our assessment is that Hezbollah and Iran will both continue to maintain a heightened level of terrorist activity and operations in the near future,” said Daniel Benjamin, the U.S. State Department’s counter-terrorism coordinator. “We are increasingly concerned about Hezbollah’s activities on a number of fronts, including its stepped up terrorist campaign around the world,” he said. “We assess that Hezbollah could attack in Europe or elsewhere at any time with little or no warning,” he warned, in a conference call with reporters to announce new U.S. sanctions against Hezbollah, Iran and Syria. Benjamin warned that Hezbollah might step up violent action as international economic sanctions turn the screw on its backers in Iran and Western-backed Syrian rebels threaten to overthrow its sponsor in Damascus. “Hezbollah maintains a presence in Europe and its recent activities demonstrate that it is not constrained by concerns about collateral damage or political fallout that could result from conducting operations there,” he said. “Hezbollah believes there have been sustained Israeli and Western campaigns against the group and its primary backers Iran and Syria over the past several years and this perception is unlikely to change. Both remain determined to exact revenge against Israel and to respond forcefully to the Western-led pressure against Iran and Syria. “More acts of terrorism by both Hezbollah and Iran are likely and they will continue to pose a serious threat for the foreseeable future. We have not detected any operational activity of the group in the U.S.,” he added. “But, that said, it’s a very ambitious group with global reach.” (daily star)