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US warns Hezbollah against using ministries to fund militants

February 2, 2019 at 11:51 am

Supporters of Hezbollah gather during a speech by Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah on 13 August 2017 [Ali Dia/Anadolu Agency]

The US yesterday warned Lebanese group Hezbollah not to use the ministries it was recently given in the Lebanese cabinet to funnel money to its militants.

The warning was announced by Deputy Spokesman of the US State Department, Robert Palladino, who said that: “We call on the new government to ensure the resources and services of these ministries do not provide support to Hezbollah.”

Palladino also revealed that the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, “looks forward” to traveling to Lebanon.

Meanwhile the US Treasury’s Assistant Secretary on Terror Financing, Marshall Billingslea, stressed the importance of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri striking a balance in the national unity government, in which Hezbollah has three seats including the health ministry.

Speaking to local journalists at the US embassy in Lebanese capital Beirut, Billingslea noted that the health ministry has one of the country’s largest budgets.

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