Lebanon, illegal US sanctions are the cause of the economic crisis

BEIRUT-The head of the religious council of the Hezbollah resistance movement, Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, has condemned the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States on Lebanon, saying that the coercive measures are mainly responsible for the financial meltdown and political deadlock in the Arab country.“ Is there any reason for the country's calamities other than the US and its blockade? The purpose of such offers is to force the Lebanese nation to capitulate. The honorable people of Lebanon will not be deceived or give up. They exercise so much patience and, God willing, they will eventually achieve a historic victory,” said Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek. Lebanon is mired in an economic crisis that the World Bank has called one of the worst in recent history, which comes amid sanctions crippling imposed by the United States and its allies. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value on the black market since 2019. According to the United Nations, the ongoing financial crisis in Lebanon has caused poverty rates to reach over 80 percent of the population and food prices have risen by an astonishing 2,000 percent. US-influenced creditors such as the International Monetary Fund have conditioned the issuance of billions of dollars in emergency loans on specific reforms that many observers would make the country dependent on the West.