GCC vows to rein in Hezbollah
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Arab News - 05 July, 2013
http://gitm.kcorp.net/index.php?id=655588&news_type=Top&lang=en

Senior officials of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) met here
yesterday to coordinate sanctions against Lebanon's Hezbollah movement over
its support for the Syria regime.

The meeting was convened "to develop mechanisms to monitor movements,
financial transactions and business operations of Hezbollah," said Bahraini
Deputy Interior Minister Khaled Al-Absi, in his opening speech at the
meeting here.

Al-Absi said two expert teams would be formed, one to "coordinate with
central banks" and the second to review "legal, administrative and financial
matters" linked to the sanctions.

The Gulf states also expressed deep concerns over the repercussions of Syria’s
widening civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000 people so far.

Al-Absi said the decision to impose sanctions was taken "after the discovery
in GCC states of several terrorist cells linked to the group."

The GCC decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hezbollah, targeting
residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for
the group's armed intervention in Syria.

"The sanctions would be implemented "in coordination ... with ministers of
commerce and the central banks of the GCC," said GCC Secretary General
Abdullatif Al-Zayani after the meeting.

A staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hezbollah has backed him
since protests erupted in March 2011.