US sanctions against senior Hezbollah officials worthless: Official

“The US sanctions will neither impact the political mechanism of electing the parliament speaker and vice speaker, nor will it affect parliamentary consultations and formation of the future government,” the official told Lebanon's Arabic-language newspaper al-Joumhouria on condition of anonymity.

He added, “These decisions have no value or political effect. They will not make freedom-seeking people in the Middle East region and across the world wary.”

 “Accusations have been leveled against us in the past, and have also been listed as terrorist because of our commitment to resist the Israeli enemy, and liberating our occupied land. We have been accused once more simply due to our spirited resistance against Takfiri terrorism,” the official pointed out.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the sanctions targeted Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy, Sheikh Naim Qassem, as well as three other officials with the movement.

The sanctions were imposed jointly by Washington and members of the so-called Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center (TFTC), including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A number of other individuals and firms, which are said to be affiliated with Hezbollah, were also hit with bans.

The bans were mainly targeted at Shura Council, the primary decision-making body of the resistance movement. It is comprised of 12 members who are tasked with making the group’s tactical decisions and oversee its activities countrywide.