WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said yesterday he had ordered the US government to block assets of anyone threatening Lebanese political stability or aiding the reassertion of Syrian control in Lebanon.
In a letter to Congress, Bush declared a national emergency to deal with potential threats to the Lebanese government, including from anyone believed to be "undermining Lebanon's democratic processes or institutions or contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon."
The US presidenta also ordered the holding of US assets belonging to anyone deemed "supporting the reassertion of Syrian control or contributing to Syrian interference in Lebanon, or infringing upon or undermining Lebanese sovereignty."
Under the August 1 order, which comes under the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Bush calls on the Treasury and State departments to determine which people or actors can be seen as undermining Lebanon's sovereignty,
Such acts, he said, would "contribute to political and economic instability in (Lebanon) and the region and constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."
The order extends not only to people seen as threatening Lebanese stability but also to their spouses and dependant children.
It prohibits US citizens from doing business with those singled out by the order as threats to Lebanon, and the international financial system will be informed of the identities of those designated individuals.
"The president signed this executive order because Lebanon's sovereignty and democratic institutions are increasingly under attack," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
He cited recent assaults by well-armed extremists on the Lebanese army, the June 13 assassination of Judge Walid Eido and reports that Syria's allies and proxies in Lebanon may be preparing an alternate government, as signs of the threat.
The order comes in the wake of Bush's June ban on entry into the United States of anyone judged deliberately seeking to harm Lebanon's sovereignty or its democratic institutions, or who contribute to the breakdown of the rule of law "including through the sponsorship of terrorism, politically motivated violence and intimidation, or the reassertion of Syrian control in Lebanon."