House Cracks Down on Iran Terror Proxy Hezbollah
Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) today issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed three bipartisan measures that target Hezbollah’s ability to finance its terror and recruit new members:
“Hezbollah is Iran’s leading terrorist proxy, and it is only growing more dangerous. It now has an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets aimed at Israel and has become battle-hardened while propping up the murderous Assad regime alongside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Hezbollah has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, including American lives. With the House’s action today, we send a strong message that the United States will not allow this threat to go unchecked. These critical measures will impose new sanctions to crack down on Hezbollah’s financing, and hold it accountable for its acts of death and destruction.”
The three measures passed by the House today:
- H.R. 3329, the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017, was authored by Chairman Royce to sanction regimes that provide weapons to Hezbollah, target Hezbollah’s fundraising and recruiting efforts – including through innovative crowdsourcing techniques – and give the administration tools to respond to Hezbollah’s global criminal network.
- H.R. 3342, the Sanctioning Hizballah’s Illicit Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act, was authored by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) to impose targeted sanctions on Iran and Hezbollah for the use of civilians as human shields.
- H. Res. 359, authored by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), urges the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization and increase pressure on it and its members.
NOTE: The House will vote tomorrow on Chairman Royce’s H.R. 1698, the Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act.
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