Lenderking Intensifies Efforts to Expand Truce in Yemen

The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)
The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)
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Lenderking Intensifies Efforts to Expand Truce in Yemen

The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)
The meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al Jaber, and US Envoy Tim Lenderking, in Riyadh on Monday (SPA)

US Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking has intensified his meetings with Gulf, Saudi and Yemeni officials, with the aim to support the efforts of UN Envoy Hans Grundberg to consolidate the truce and launch a comprehensive political process.

In this context, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajraf, called on the international community to support the Yemeni Leadership Council and intensify pressure on the Houthis, in order to achieve security and peace in Yemen, and to engage in a political solution to the crisis in accordance with UN references.

His comments came during a meeting with Lenderking on Monday in Riyadh, as part of the US envoy’s tour in the region.

The two sides underlined the need to support all international efforts to enhance the security, stability and peace of Yemen, and to consolidate the truce announced by the UN special envoy.

Also on Monday, the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to Yemen, the supervisor of the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction, Mohammad bin Saeed Al Jaber, met in Riyadh with Lenderking, in the presence of US Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the meeting stressed the importance of maintaining the UN-sponsored truce, and the need to reopen the roads leading to Taiz to alleviate human suffering.

They two sides emphasized the need to reach a permanent ceasefire in Yemen in order to launch the political process between the Yemeni government and the Houthis.

The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, received at his residence in Riyadh the US envoy and Fagin to discuss the latest developments in the country and the international efforts coordinated with the United Nations to revive the peace track.

Saba news agency quoted Lenderking as praising “the recent exceptional presidential and government decisions that included facilitating the entry of oil derivatives ships to the ports of Hodeidah despite the Houthi militia’s obstacles…”

Lenderking also underlined the United States’ keenness to “support the reforms led by the Presidential Leadership Council and the government,” official Yemeni sources reported.



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.