18 May 2018•Update: 19 May 2018
By Mahmut Geldi
BEIRUT
Lebanese politicians said Friday that newly-imposed sanctions against Hezbollah -- by the U.S. and a handful of Arab Gulf countries -- would not hinder the formation of a new government.
MPs from Lebanon’s two main political camps, the March 8 and the March 14 movements, said the process of forming a new Lebanese government would not be hampered by the sanctions against Hezbollah.
Rola at-Tabsh, an MP from Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s Future Movement, told Anadolu Agency on Friday that all the country’s political groupings were sparing no effort to draw up a viable cabinet.
Michael Mousa, a Greek Catholic MP for the Amal Movement, stressed the fact that Hezbollah had performed very well in the country’s May 6 election -- Lebanon’s first parliamentary poll since 2009.
“I doubt the March 14 camp will withdraw its support from [Amal Chairman] Nabih Berri as parliament speaker because he’s a Hezbollah ally,” Mousa said.
He, too, expressed doubt that the sanctions against Hezbollah would affect the formation of a new government.
Earlier this week, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia -- along with some other Gulf States -- imposed fresh sanctions on Hezbollah.
The Saudi authorities went even further, placing several Hezbollah-linked individuals on their “terrorist” list, including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
