¤Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act signed

On 18 December 2015 President Obama signed the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act, which punishes foreign banks that deal with the party; the beginning of American financial pressure on the Lebanese banking sector.

Note: These are unilateral measures outside the framework of the Security Council, whose effect extends beyond the territory of the state that issues them, and the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council have repeatedly condemned "unilateral coercive measures". When a Lebanese bank is closed or a politician punished by a foreign administrative decision without a trial in Lebanon, compliance with the US Treasury becomes in practice higher than Lebanese law, and the Banque du Liban and the banks turn into executors of a foreign policy. The state's failure to apply its own laws against money laundering and corruption makes matters worse, leaving the vacuum to others.