Report: U.S. Senate Approves Proposal Targeting Hizbullah Funding

The United States Senate approved over the weekend a bill that targets Hizbullah's finances, which includes institutions and people funding the party, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

The bill won the majority of votes of the Senate.

It calls for the U.S. Department of State to identify the media outlets that back and fund Hizbullah, such as al-Manar television.

It demanded the U.S. Treasury to impose “harsh conditions” against any foreign side that facilitates operations or launders money or conspires to send funds to people or organizations linked to the party.

In addition, the bill called for listing Hizbullah as a party that smuggles foreign drugs and that it be labeled as an international criminal organization.

It urged the U.S. president and secretary of state to send reports to Congress on Hizbullah's financial activity and its drug smuggling operations, said An Nahar.

This also includes sending reports on countries that support Hizbullah, whereby the party has formed logistic, donation, and money-laundering networks, continued the daily.

The report should stipulate whether these countries are taking the sufficient measures to target Hizbullah's financial network.

In March, Hizbullah and Iran were no longer enrolled on a U.S. list of terror threats, according to an annual report by the U.S. National Intelligence that was delivered to the Senate.

The report noted that Hizbullah and Tehran, which comprise along with Syria and other organizations the “axis of resistance” that oppose Israel and Western policies in the Middle East, have exerted efforts to combat the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.