(MENAFN- Jordan Times) BEIRUT — US sanctions on Hizbollah are harming Lebanon as a whole, President Michel Aoun said on Thursday ahead of a visit to the country by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The United States deems the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hizbollah group a terrorist organisation and has been steadily increasing financial sanctions against it as part of efforts to counter Iran.
Shiite Muslim Hizbollah has a large armed militia that has helpedSyrian President Bashar Assad in his eight-year war against rebels, but it is also a political party in Lebanon with seats in the parliament and Cabinet.
'Lebanon is within the siege that has been imposed on others, particularly on Iran. And it is passing, as a result of that, through a big crisis,' Aoun told Russian media in Lebanon, the Lebanese Presidency office said.
Sanctions against Hizbollah introduced since 2016 raised fears among Lebanese that US correspondent banks might deem Lebanese banks too risky to do business with, harming a major part of Lebanon's economy.
However, Lebanon's Central Bank has repeatedly said that the banking sector is fully compliant with sanctions and that foreign institutions are satisfied with how it implements regulation.
'We don't expect more measures against the banks,' Aoun, a Hizbollah ally, said.
But he said the 'negative impact of the siege on Hizbollah afflicts all Lebanese, as it does the Lebanese banks'.
'Every Lebanese bank has uncertainty about dealing with a depositor, fearing that he has a link with Hizbollah ... This mutual fear does not build an economy and sound trade relations,' he added.
US Secretary of State Pompeo is due to visit Lebanon on Friday and Saturday after trips to Kuwait and Israel. In Israel, Pompeo described Iran-backed Hizbollah as a risk to the Lebanese.
Aoun is scheduled to visit Russia over March 25-26 after being invited by President Vladimir Putin, Aoun's office said.
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