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Congress blames State Department after draft sanctions bill leaked to pro-Hezbollah media

The Lebanese government is preparing to send a delegation to Washington to oppose the proposed new sanctions on the designated terrorist organization.
People walk outside Lebanon's Central Bank in Beirut November 6, 2014. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi/File Photo - RTSEJDF
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Congress is blaming the State Department and the US Embassy in Lebanon after draft sanctions legislation was leaked to the Lebanese media, setting off a political and diplomatic firestorm.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., began devising a new bill targeting Hezbollah last year amid concerns that the Barack Obama administration was slow-walking implementation of a previous effort that was signed into law in December 2015. Royce shared an early draft with State Department experts for their input, sources on and off Capitol Hill told Al-Monitor, but got burned when a media outlet close to Hezbollah got wind of it. 

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