On Friday, the US slapped sanctions on Bassil, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, as part of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets corruption and serious human rights abuse around the world. According to the Treasury Department, the work of Bassil, who has held several high-level posts in the Lebanese government, has been marked by significant allegations of corruption.
"Hezbollah condemns the decision made by the US Treasury Department toward FPM leader and [former] foreign minister Gebran Bassil and considers it to be an exclusively political and undisguised interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon," the movement said.
According to Hezbollah, the move aims to "subordinate a large group of politicians to the will and conditions imposed by the United States on Lebanon."
The Treasury's decision makes Bassil the third Hezbollah-linked politician to fall under US restrictions after President Donald Trump’s administration placed two former ministers under sanctions over accusations of aiding Hezbollah.
