File photo by the Bulgarian National Radio
US President Barack Obama extended for another year Wednesday sanctions against entities the US considers threatening to Lebanon's stability, thus referring to Hezbollah backers.
The measures include freezing the assets of people considered to be threatening to Lebanon's democracy or stability.
"Certain ongoing activities, such as continuing arms transfers to Hezbollah that include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems, serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty, contribute to political and economic instability in Lebanon, and continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," Obama wrote in a message to Congress.
The US President says he has determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared on August 1, 2007, to deal with that threat and the related measures adopted on that date to respond to the emergency.
The national emergency was first declared by former President George W. Bush back in 2007 and has been renewed each year since.