On May 21, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions imposed on nine Lebanese officials, including members of parliament, political activists affiliated with the Shiite Amal movement, and for the first time, officers serving in the Lebanese army and the general security apparatus.
According to senior political sources, this is a sharp change in Washington's policy towards Lebanon. The US is moving from focused pressure on Hezbollah to a broader policy, within the framework of which the Lebanese state system itself is also placed under scrutiny and deterrence. This is against the backdrop of what the Trump administration defines as a continuing failure to enforce the state's monopoly on weapons in southern Lebanon.
The timing of the sanctions is not coincidental. They were announced just days before a security meeting expected to be held in Washington on May 29, with the participation of representatives from the United States, Lebanon, and Israel, who are supposed to discuss the future of the security situation in southern Lebanon and the Lebanese state's ability to actually implement its decisions regarding Hezbollah.
At the heart of the move is a qualitative change. For the first time since the American sanctions policy against Hezbollah began, the United States is not acting only against external political elements or against funding mechanisms, but also against senior officials operating from within the state institutions themselves.