Hezbollah: US sanctions will “starve” Syria and Lebanon

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The leader of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah said Tuesday that new US sanctions are intended to “starve” both Syria and Lebanon, the Times of Israel (ToI) reports.

Declaring that the Syrian government has won the civil war, Hassan Nasrallah said sanctions prescribed under the new Caesar Act were Washington’s “last weapon” against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. The dictator is supported by Hezbollah based in Lebanon and by Iran and Russia.

The Caesar Act, which came into force Wednesday, targets companies that deal with Assad’s regime. The legislation imposes sanctions on Assad’s government in order to force it to cease “attacks on the Syrian people,” the ToI said. It is reportedly expected that, for the first time, Russian and Iranian entities in Syria will also be targeted through the legislation.

Much of the Syrian population lives in poverty as the country reels from nine years of civil war on top of coronavirus and a dollar liquidity crisis in Lebanon. The value of the Syrian pound has reached a record low on the black market against the dollar and prices have sky-rocketed, the ToI reported. The Syrian government and loyalist businesses have already been targeted by US and EU economic sanctions.

Nevertheless, accusing the US of forcing the collapse of the Syrian currency, Nasrallah said the Syrian government would continue to receive support: “The allies of Syria, which stood by its side during the war… will not abandon Syria in the face of economic warfare and will not allow its fall, even if they are themselves going through difficult circumstances,” he said.

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