US House Passes Bill to Block Hezbollah from International Financial System

Bill also targets Al-Manar TV

Press TV December 16, 2015

The US House of Representatives has approved sanctions against banks that do business with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

Lawmakers unanimously voted for the imposition of the sanctions in a bill that will be sent to the White House for US President Barack Obama’s signature.

Following a unanimous one in the US Senate on November 17, the House voted for the measure 422 to 0 .

The bill also targets the resistance movement’s television channel Al-Manar through attempts to cut the broadcast of satellite operators that air the channel’s programs.

Meanwhile, a senior administration official told AFP that the president will sign the legislation, adding the White House and the US Congress have been working together for long “to intensify the pressure” on the organization, which the official described as a “terrorist.”

This is while Hezbollah fighters have been engaged in battles against the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Syria.

Apart from pressuring banks that knowingly do business with the group, the bill also requires the White House to present reports to the Congress in regard to Hezbollah’s operations.

The organization has been accused by the US of committing “terrorism” while its fighters keep advancing against the ISIL militants, originally trained and funded by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the government of Syrian President Basher al-Assad.