Lebanese President, US Ambassador Discuss New Sanctions

Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo
Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo
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Lebanese President, US Ambassador Discuss New Sanctions

Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo
Lebanese President Michel Aoun. File photo

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has discussed with US Ambassador Dorothy Shea a wave of new tighter US sanctions on Syria, a diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Shea on Thursday handed Aoun a letter that includes the text of the US Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which takes effect later this month, the diplomat said.

Shea stressed to the Lebanese president that the new law is on Syria, saying her country continues to back Lebanon, the source added.

The ministers of foreign affairs, information, economy and justice and their director generals, in addition to Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, met on Thursday to discuss the Caesar Act’s repercussions on Lebanon.

One of the conferees described the meeting as "consultative."

The Caesar Act targets companies dealing with Damascus. The sanctions are expected to worsen the already dire economic situation in Syria.

Syria's economy has been battered by nine years of war compounded by a financial crisis in Lebanon, which had served as a conduit to bring dollars into regime-held areas despite international sanctions.



Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT
20

Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel's military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.

Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.

In a statement, the military said troops "completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria."

"For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and "carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers".

On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed "terrorist cell" in southern Syria and seized weapons.