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.
![LEBANON-ECONOMY/HEZBOLLAH-FINANCING People walk outside Lebanon's Central Bank in Beirut November 6, 2014. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi/File Photo - RTSEJDF](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2017/05/RTSEJDF.jpg/RTSEJDF.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=AXLgQFoH)
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.