Beirut, Apr 27 (Prensa Latina) The banks of Lebanon started to enforce measures against people and institutions under suspicion of carrying out transactions with Hezbollah, in accordance with a US law to sanction the resistance movement, local sources said on Wednesday.
According to the newspaper Al-Mustaqbal (The Future, in Arabic), the actions taken by Lebanese financial institutions result from US pressure to try to suffocate the Shiite organization, which Washington and its Arab allies in the Persian Gulf consider a terrorist group.

Sources quoted by the newspaper pointed out that the measure applies to bank accounts in Lebanese pounds and other foreign currencies, basically the US dollar, held by natural or juridical persons who are proved to do any kind of business with Hezbollah (Party of God, in Arabic), a party that is represented in the Lebanese government and parliament and whose militias are fighting in Syria and Iraq.

On December 18, 2015, US President Barack Obama signed the so-called Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act.

The passing of the law had an immediate effect in Lebanon, where in early April, the banks cancelled, at least temporarily, credit and debit cards, even for Internet transactions, Prensa Latina verified.

Since December, bankers and executives from financial institutions have traveled to Washington on several occasions to meet with US officials to discuss the ways to solve that interruption.

Beirut media reported last week that the Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), attached to the US Department of Treasury, issued regulations to enforce the law to prevent financing the leading Shiite organization here.

Al-Mustaqbal assured that US Undersecretary of Treasury Daniel Glaser plans to travel to Beirut next week to discuss with Lebanese authorities the details of the new regulation, which has created unrest among business people and individuals.