White House tells Iran to stop funding Hezbollah/Lebanese Govt. Urges ‘Embracing Legitimate Armed Forces’ after al-Qaa Blasts, Declares ‘Full Readiness’

White House tells Iran to stop funding Hezbollah
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 28 June 2016

The White House urged Iran on Monday to stop giving financial support to Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah, warning of such continued backing won’t seep into “its interest.”“We know that Iran supports terrorism,” the White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “And we know that Iran supports Hezbollah. And that is why we’ve issued the most serious and most severe sanctions ever on Iran for doing so. So it’s important for them to recognize their own behavior in enabling this.”Hezbollah has been blacklisted as a “terrorist” organization both by the US and Gulf states. On Friday, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah scoffed at fresh US sanctions. He said his powerful group will not be affected by the sanctions because of its secure, direct income from Iran and through Lebanese banks. “We are open about the fact that Hezbollah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Nasrallah said. Early this year, the United States lifted sanctions imposed against Iran, allowing the Islamic republic to use up to $100 billion of frozen funds. The White House spokesman said that “financial actors” at the end of the day “don’t want to do business” with a country like Iran if it continues its support to Hezbollah. “We’ve had a conversation recently about Iran’s concerns about access to international markets,” he said: “Well, those financial actors are looking at Iran’s behavior and if Iran’s going to continue to fund terrorism and continue to supply resources to Hezbollah that is going to have impact.”He warned that such continued support to Hezbollah won’t be of Iran’s interest.“So we call on Iran to not only stop doing this because it’s not good for national security and they’re supporting terrorism. But we call on Iran to stop doing it because it’s not in their interest either,” he said.

Lebanese Govt. Urges ‘Embracing Legitimate Armed Forces’ after al-Qaa Blasts, Declares ‘Full Readiness’
Naharnet/June 28/16/The government called on all citizens on Tuesday to “embrace the legitimate armed forces” and not to “surrender to panic,” declaring that it will maintain “full readiness” to follow up on the security developments after the unprecedented suicide bombings that rocked the border town of al-Qaa on Monday. “It is a moment for national unity in respect for the blood of the martyrs who fell on al-Qaa’s soil and it is a moment for reflecting on our current political situation and on the efforts that are required from everyone in order to overcome the crisis,” the government said after a cabinet session at the Grand Serail. “The cabinet renewed its confidence in the army and the security agencies as to the protection of the security of the Lebanese and preserving stability, and we call on all citizens to embrace the legitimate armed forces and not to panic,” it added. “The cabinet will maintain a state of readiness and it declares that all governmental agencies will be in a state of full readiness to confront the current situations,” the government reassured. It warned that “the unprecedented method in which the attacks were carried out represent the beginning of a new chapter in the confrontation between the State and terrorism.” “All political forces must address the issue in a national and not a partisan manner and everyone must shun autonomous security,” the government added. “Prime Minister Tammam Salam noted that the security agencies’ investigations are ongoing and that the identities of the terrorists have started to become clear, expressing concerns that the attack in al-Qaa could be the beginning of a new wave of terrorist attacks in Lebanon,” it said. The meeting had kicked off with a moment of silence for the victims of the attacks that killed five people and wounded at least 23. Before the session began, Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi said that the discussions must focus on returning the displaced persons back to their land. “The time is not to discuss ways to organize the situations of the displaced. It is time to discuss ways to send them back to their homeland and control their random spread.”
Minister of State for Administrative Development Nabil de Freige said: “Discussing the security situation in Lebanon is a priority today.”
For his part, Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb said: “The cabinet cannot convene without discussing the security situation. The army must take control and a president must be elected.” Voicing concerns of future terror attacks, Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said: “I have fears that foreign sides might have given the orders for terrorists to enter Lebanon and start a new stage following that of Iraq and Syria.”
Highlighting previous calls to control the random presence of displaced people across the Lebanese regions, Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb said: “We had backed a plan to control their situations.”Four suicide bombings rocked the eastern border town of al-Qaa on Monday evening, injuring eight people, only hours after four suicide bombers killed five people and wounded 15 others in the town before dawn.
Three suicide bombers riding motorcycles blew themselves up in the evening in the center of the predominantly Christian town. In the pre-dawn attack, five people were killed and fifteen others were wounded when four suicide bombers targeted the town.
The suicide explosions struck at 10 minute intervals. Lebanon hosts more than 1.1 million Syrians, a huge burden for the country of four million people. Several Lebanese politicians have warned about the inability of the country to bear this burden and had already called for the closure of borders after incidents.
Al-Qaa is one of several border posts separating Lebanon and war-torn Syria and is predominantly Christian although one district, Masharii al-Qaa, is home to Sunni Muslims. Suicide blasts in the area have typically targeted checkpoints or military installations and rarely include more than one attacker. In August 2014, the army clashed with the Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, in the border town of Arsal.