Concerned about Hezbollah. US House of Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce. Photo Courtesy of House of Foreign Affairs Committee website.
Hezbollah’s actions in Syria—where they have sent militants to defend the regime in that country’s civil war—has led to attacks on Lebanon from rebel groups in Syria. There are clearly some in Lebanon who are upset with the Hezbollah group in light of this. Count former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora among those.
In comments carried by The Daily Star in Lebanon, Siniora said Hezbollah has “caused evil to be brought to Lebanon” because of their support for the brutal and repressive Syrian regime. Siniora isn’t the only one concerned about Hezbollah’s actions outside Lebanon. An American politician is upset over that as well.
U.S. Representative Ed Royce, the chairman for the powerful US House of Foreign Affairs Committee, warned about the danger of Hezbollah’s global reach in commenting on new legislation being discussed that would target Hezbollah’s access to international banks.
“The threat posed by Hezbollah’s global operations has exploded,” said Royce in comments posted on the Committee’s website in late June. “Underpinning that development is a financing and logistical network. In 2011, we saw the tip of the iceberg when a massive Hezbollah drug and money laundering operation was uncovered.
“To deter dealings with Hezbollah, the bill targets those financial institutions that knowingly do business with what has been called the ‘A-team’ of terrorists.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, July 4, 2014)