US President Joe Biden has extended the declared state of national emergency in Lebanon for the fourteenth consecutive year, citing the “extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The White House slammed “the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon’s legitimate and democratically elected government or democratic institutions; to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Lebanon, including through politically motivated violence and intimidation.”
Without referring to specific individuals, it said such actions seek “to reassert Syrian control or contribute to Syrian interference in Lebanon; or to infringe upon or undermine Lebanese sovereignty. Such actions contribute to political and economic instability in that country and the region.”
The White House statement accused Iran of undermining Lebanon’s sovereignty.
“Certain ongoing activities, such as Iran’s continuing arms transfers to Hezbollah — which include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems — serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty, contribute to political and economic instability in the region,” it said.
In his message to the Congress, Biden said: "For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13441 with respect to Lebanon.”
According to the White House, such ongoing activities “continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The national emergency with respect to Lebanon had been declared on August 1, 2007.
