The US Treasury’s announcement of sanctions against Lebanon's former energy and foreign affairs minister Gebran Bassil on Friday drew question marks on what repercussions it would have on Lebanon, as Saad Hariri seeks to form the next government based on an initiative launched by French President Emmanuel Macron.
On Friday, the US Treasury announced the sanctions against Bassil, who is President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law, saying he is behind corruption involving billions of dollars that has left the country's economy in shambles.
Deputy Speaker MP Elie Ferzli told Asharq Al-Awsat that Aoun had been previously informed about plans to sanction Bassil, saying the sanctions were supposed to be announced two weeks ago.
“If concerned parties had worked on facilitating the formation of the government, the sanctions would have not been imposed. But that did not happen,” he said.
The lawmaker said the sanctions should not affect the government formation process. “The difficulty to agree on a new cabinet is the result of local problems among Lebanese parties,” Ferzli explained.
He ruled out that the sanctions were aimed at targeting the French initiative, adding that Paris had coordinated with Washington beforehand.
But political analyst and university professor Makram Rabah had a different approach.
“The timing of the sanctions against Bassil before the team of President Donald Trump left the US State Department proves that the US is not concerned with the Lebanese political settlement,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Rabah said the US sanctions targeted head of the Free Patriotic Movement, one of Hezbollah’s most prominent allies in Lebanon, and thus was a clear message that there is no settlement without regaining Lebanon’s sovereignty.
“The repercussions of these sanctions will be significant because they will not be limited to Bassil, rather they will extend to all parties close to Hezbollah,” he said.
While noting that these sanctions confirm that the US does not distinguish between the military and political wings of Hezbollah, Rabah said the US administration has stated that it is not concerned in the cabinet formation process if Hezbollah is involved.
