Undersecretaries of GCC interior ministries at the GCC General Secretariat headquarters in Riyadh yesterday.  Bahrain’s Interior Ministry Undersecretary, Major-General Khalid bin Salim Al Absi chaired the meeting.

RIYADH: Senior Gulf Cooperation Council officials met in Riyadh yesterday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah movement over its support to the Syria regime.

The meeting was “to develop mechanisms to monitor movements, financial transactions and business operations of Hezbollah,” said Bahrain’s Deputy Interior Minister Khaled Al Absi.

The GCC decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hezbollah, targeting residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for the group’s armed intervention in Syria.

Absi told reporters that two teams will be formed: One to “coordinate with central banks” and the second to review “legal, administrative and financial matters” linked to the sanctions. Last month’s measure was taken “after the discovery in GCC states of several terrorist cells linked to the group,” he added.

The sanctions would be implemented “in coordination… with ministers of commerce and the central banks of the GCC,” the council’s Secretary General Abdullatif Al Zayani has said.  An estimated 360,000 Lebanese work in the Gulf, remitting some $4bn annually. Agencies