The new American sanctions provided for by the Caesar law, which are to come into force on Wednesday, aim to "starve" Syria at war and neighboring Lebanon, accused Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese movement of Hezbollah, on Tuesday, June 16, in a televised address.

The Cesar law, which broadens the scope of the sanctions, provides for a freeze on reconstruction aid and measures against foreign entities collaborating with the government, and, unpublished fact, the Russian or Iranian entities present in Syria. 

"Syria has won the war ... militarily, security and politically," said the leader of the Shiite movement. The Caesar law, baptized after the pseudonym of the whistleblower, "is the last weapon to besiege Syria and put pressure" on the country.

"We are starving the Syrian people, we are attacking the pound" Syrian, he continued. "Ban on anyone from dealing (in Syria), ban on buying and selling, dealing with the Central Bank, Syrian banks and state institutions," he said.

Pressure on the Bank of Lebanon

President Donald Trump's law passed in December provides for "special measures" against the Syrian Central Bank if it is found to be engaged in money laundering.

Nasrallah assured that "the allies of Syria, who stood by his side during the war (...) will not abandon Syria in the face of the economic war and will not allow its fall".

Addressing the Lebanese authorities, the Hezbollah chief called "not to submit to the Caesar law", while certain Lebanese exports pass through Syria. Lebanon, too, has been stuck for several months in an economic shipwreck, marked by a collapse of the national currency and a shortage of dollars. 

"The Americans are pressuring the Bank of Lebanon to prevent it from injecting sufficient dollars into the market," he added, adding that it was "on the pretext" that Hezbollah was using these greenbacks. to send them to Syria.

Refusal to give up arms

Heavyweight of Lebanese political life, the Shiite movement is the only faction not to have abandoned its military arsenal at the end of the civil war (1975-1990), while the organization is still hostile to the Israeli neighbor. Nasrallah accused Washington of pressuring Lebanon to push Hezbollah to abandon its weapons, or the country would go hungry.

"Whoever wants to give us the choice between dying by guns or by hunger, I tell him our weapons will remain in our hands, and we will not be hungry."

Nasrallah spoke while the United States on Tuesday called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to choose between a political resolution of the conflict in Syria and new economic sanctions.

With AFP

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