US sanctions Lebanon’s Gebran Bassil for Hezbollah ties, corruption

The United States slapped sanctions on the leader of Lebanon’s biggest Christian party and ally of Hezbollah, Gebran Bassil, senior US officials said Friday.

“He represents everything wrong with the Lebanese system,” one official told reporters in a phone call. The move came under the Magnitsky Act, due to Bassil’s role in acts of corruption. His role in providing political cover for the Iran-backed Hezbollah was also related to the move.

Bassil is Lebanon’s former foreign minister and the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun.

Earlier this year, the US expanded the scope of sanctions on Lebanese officials to include non-Hezbollah members. Ali Hasan Khalil, the former finance minister and top political aide to Speaker Nabih Berri, was sanctioned alongside former Public Works Minister Yousef Fenianos.

Lebanon has been without a government since August after Hassan Diab resigned following the deadly Aug. 4 Port of Beirut explosion.

Lawmakers designated Mustapha Adib, Lebanon's ambassador to Germany, to form a new government. He also stepped down after failing to form the government he wanted - free of influence from the traditional political parties.

Saad Hariri was then nominated on October 22 to try to form a government. Although reports suggested he had made quick progress in his efforts to form a new government, momentum appears to have slowed in recent days.

Bassil and Hezbollah did not name Hariri; however, they have demanded certain representation in the next government.

A State Department Spokesperson told Al Arabiya English that the selection and appointment of a new government was a decision for the Lebanese people to make.

But, the spokesperson added: “As Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo has repeatedly stated, business as usual is not acceptable.”

Asked if the US would work with a new Lebanese government that included Hezbollah, the official skirted the question. “Iranian-backed Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is more concerned with its own interests and those of its patron Iran, than what is best for the Lebanese people,” the official said.