Sayyid Nasrallah highlights failure of US sanctions on Syria

The Secretary General of Hezbollah censured ‎the US sanctions against Syria, stressing that they have failed to achieve their desired results.‎

News ID: 450285

Date: 17 June 2020 - 13:43

RNA – The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah, censured ‎‎the US sanctions against Syria, stressing that they have failed to achieve their desired results.‎

In a televised speech on Tuesday on the martyrdom anniversary of the sixth Shi’ah Imam, ‎‎Imam Ja’far al-Sadeq (AS), and the demise of former leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad ‎‎movement Ramadhan Shallah, Nasrallah said the restrictive measures are the “last American ‎‎weapon” to pressure the government in Damascus and that Syria’s allies would not leave the ‎‎Arab country alone in the face of the economic war.‎

The Hezbollah chief said the latest US sanctions on Damascus under the so-called Caesar Act ‎‎is the last weapon Washington has used against Syria after it failed to topple the country’s ‎‎legitimate government militarily and Damascus emerged victorious in the nine-year war.‎

The new US sanctions against Syria, which will be implemented on June 17, is to target ‎‎businesses and economic institutions that support the government of President Bashar al-‎‎Asad.‎

Stressing that the US sanctions have failed to achieve their desired effects, Nasrallah called ‎‎on the Lebanese government “not to succumb to the Caesar Act” as the sanctions aim to ‎‎impoverish and bring about hunger to the people of both Lebanon and Syria.‎
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“Syria’s allies who stood by it during the military, security and political war— and even if their ‎‎own conditions are also difficult— they will not give up on Syria in the face of this economic ‎‎war,” he underlined, Press TV reported.‎

US blocking foreign currencies into Lebanon

Nasrallah also accused Washington of trying to worsen the economic situation in Lebanon by ‎‎blocking the flow of foreign currencies into the country, saying Hezbollah would do all in its ‎‎power to prevent violence and sectarianism in Lebanon.‎
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“Under the pretext that dollars are being collected in the [Lebanese] market and being taken ‎‎to Syria, the Americans are preventing dollars from coming to Lebanon, even what is in the ‎‎hands of the Lebanese central bank for the Lebanese market,” he said.‎
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“It’s the responsibility of all political and religious powers to prevent our country from ‎‎descending into chaos, and avoid any political or sectarian sedition,” he added.‎

Nasrallah also hailed all reconciliation efforts among different political parties in Lebanon, ‎‎saying such efforts should be encouraged and devoid of any politicization.‎

Lebanon has been facing an economic downturn since last autumn. The Lebanese pound, ‎‎which has continued to plummet against the US dollar, hit a new low on Thursday, going ‎‎down about 70 percent from its official rate.‎

Lebanese protesters resumed demonstrations last week, demanding the resignation of the ‎‎ruling elite over mismanagement of the acute financial crisis as the novel coronavirus ‎‎pandemic and the resulting lockdown compound the economic hardship gripping the country.‎

The protesters called for early Parliamentary elections and tougher measures to fight ‎‎corruption and return the looted state funds.‎

Idea of disarming Hezbollah ‘useless’‎

Elsewhere in his televised address on Tuesday, Nasrallah also lashed out at political parties ‎‎that raised the issue of disarming the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.‎
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“The ways some political forces follow in order disarm the resistance are useless, they ‎‎should provide alternatives,” he said. “Resistance arms, for our people, are part of our ‎‎culture, strategic doctrine, and deeper than others can imagine.”‎

Hezbollah has played a critical role in the Syrian military’s counter-terrorism operations over ‎‎the past years with the aim of preventing the spillover of the Syria crisis into Lebanon.‎

The US has labeled the entire Hezbollah a terrorist organization and levied several rounds of ‎‎sanctions on the Lebanese resistance movement as well as its top officials.‎

Moreover, the resistance movement’s popularity for shattering Israel’s myth of invincibility ‎‎among the Arab public opinion has worried Israel and the West.‎

The movement’s military engagement in the Syria war has also turned it into a seasoned ‎‎force, forcing many Western observers to describe Hezbollah as the most powerful Arab ‎‎‎“army.” ‎

Tasnim News Agency
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