Beirut blast ‘targeted all banks’
Print Edition
LEBANESE banks yesterday said that a bombing outside the headquarters of one of the country’s biggest banks had targeted the entire sector, an attack seen as a dangerous escalation of a crisis over a US law targeting the finances of the Shiite group Hezbollah.
The bombing outside the main Blom Bank building in Beirut on Sunday night, which caused damage but no fatalities, followed the closure of accounts considered to be linked to the group by banks afraid of being shut out of the international financial system. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hezbollah, which has not commented on the bombing, has condemned the central bank for implementing a law it views as a breach of sovereignty. The banks say they have no choice but to implement it.
Blom Bank, one of Lebanon’s biggest financial institutions, has closed more accounts than other banks as a result of the legislation.
Hospitals are among social institutions deemed to be linked to Hezbollah that have had their accounts closed, sources familiar with the matter say.
Societies affiliated to Hezbollah run hospitals, schools and social care institutions, and the group says the measures are targeting the entire Shiite community.
“The Association of Banks confirms that it operates according to the highest levels of professional practice and within the rules prevailing in the international markets,” the Association of Banks in Lebanon said in a statement.
“This explosion targets the entire banking sector.”
The US Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, passed in December, threatens to punish any organization or person providing significant finance to Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by US law.
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