ALPI PAC ENDORSES THE LEBANON SANCTIONS, STABILIZATION, AND SUPPORT ACT
S. 5356 offers a decisive U.S. framework to strengthen the Lebanese state, support its legitimate security institutions, confront Hezbollah and Iranian interference, advance disarmament, and help restore Lebanon’s sovereignty and economic stability.
Washington, D.C. , The American Lebanese Policy Institute Political Action Committee (ALPI PAC) announces its strong support for S. 5356, the “Lebanon Sanctions, Stabilization, and Support Act,” introduced in the United States Senate on August 6, 2026, by Senators Jeanne Shaheen and James Lankford and referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
ALPI PAC believes this legislation represents an important and comprehensive U.S. policy framework for supporting a sovereign, stable, democratic, and independent Lebanon. Significantly, the bill recognizes that strengthening Lebanon requires both accountability for those who undermine the Lebanese state and meaningful support for the legitimate institutions working to restore its authority.
ALPI PAC strongly supports the central principle reflected throughout S. 5356: Lebanon must have one state, one legitimate national authority, and state institutions capable of exercising the monopoly of arms throughout Lebanese territory. No political organization, militia, foreign government, or armed non-state actor should possess authority parallel to that of the Lebanese state.
Holding Hezbollah and Its Support Networks Accountable
S. 5356 would authorize sanctions against foreign persons determined to have knowingly and significantly engaged in specified conduct, including providing material support for Iran’s illicit financing and support of armed non-state actors in Lebanon, including Hezbollah; materially supporting Hezbollah; significantly obstructing Lebanese efforts to establish a state monopoly over arms and disarm Hezbollah; or significantly delaying critical reforms to Lebanon’s banking and financial sectors.
The sanctions contemplated by the legislation include blocking property and interests in property under U.S. jurisdiction, restrictions on certain financial transactions, and visa and admission restrictions. The legislation also contains humanitarian protections and directs that sanctions implementation limit adverse effects on legitimate economic activity, employment, and humanitarian conditions in Lebanon.
ALPI PAC supports targeted accountability against those who materially enable Hezbollah, Iranian interference, or obstruction of legitimate Lebanese state authority while protecting the Lebanese people and legitimate economic activity from unnecessary harm.
Supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces
The legislation does not stop at sanctions. It provides substantial support for Lebanon’s legitimate security institutions.
S. 5356 authorizes, for each of the first five fiscal years following enactment, $200 million in Foreign Military Financing, $25 million for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, $11.5 million for Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining and Related Programs, and $3.5 million for International Military Education and Training.
The bill also authorizes a separate fund providing $20 million annually for three fiscal years for salaries and stipends supporting members of the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces.
Importantly, significant portions of assistance are tied to measurable progress by the Government of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces toward establishing the state’s monopoly over force and implementing the disarmament of Hezbollah.
ALPI PAC believes that supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces must go hand in hand with the expectation that legitimate state institutions exercise exclusive security authority throughout Lebanon.
Confronting Iranian Proxy Networks and Illicit Financing
S. 5356 also addresses the financial and criminal networks that sustain armed non-state actors. The legislation directs U.S. assistance toward strengthening Lebanese capabilities to counter Iranian proxy forces operating in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, and to disrupt revenues derived from financial crimes, Captagon, illicit goods production and trafficking, and weapons smuggling.
It further establishes a program to strengthen Lebanese security institutions’ ability to identify, track, and develop forensic capabilities concerning financial crimes and the production and trafficking of Captagon and other illicit goods that provide revenue to Hezbollah and other malign actors.
For too long, Lebanon’s sovereignty and economy have suffered from parallel networks operating outside legitimate state authority. ALPI PAC supports a policy that confronts those networks directly while building the capacity of Lebanon’s lawful institutions to replace them.
Supporting Reconstruction Without Empowering Hezbollah
The legislation also recognizes that security alone cannot stabilize Lebanon.
S. 5356 calls for continued U.S. humanitarian assistance, including support for healthcare, food, shelter, water and sanitation, demining, and other humanitarian needs. It also establishes a mechanism to support reconstruction of Lebanese government and municipal services and civilian infrastructure.
The bill requires safeguards and oversight designed to prevent U.S. assistance from being diverted to Hezbollah or other non-state armed groups.
ALPI PAC strongly supports reconstruction that strengthens the Lebanese state, not parallel institutions. International assistance should empower legitimate Lebanese national and municipal institutions, restore public services, rebuild affected communities, and ensure that humanitarian need is never exploited to perpetuate armed political influence.
Advancing Banking Reform and Economic Accountability
The legislation also recognizes that Lebanon’s sovereignty cannot be separated from economic and institutional reform.
S. 5356 requires reporting on progress toward banking and financial reforms, including implementation of Lebanon’s April 2025 bank secrecy law, restructuring of the banking sector, and legislation addressing the allocation of banking-sector losses.
ALPI PAC believes that restoring confidence in Lebanon requires transparent institutions, credible financial reform, accountability, and a functioning banking system capable of supporting investment and sustainable economic growth.
A Comprehensive Strategy for a Sovereign Lebanon
S. 5356 further requires extensive congressional oversight of Lebanon’s progress toward disarming Hezbollah, expanding legitimate state services, countering Iranian financing, strengthening security institutions, advancing banking reform, addressing humanitarian and reconstruction needs, and pursuing peaceful relations and negotiations in the region.
Taken together, these provisions represent an approach that combines pressure with support, accountability with reconstruction, and security assistance with measurable institutional responsibility.
“ALPI PAC strongly endorses the Lebanon Sanctions, Stabilization, and Support Act because it recognizes a fundamental reality: Lebanon cannot achieve lasting peace, economic recovery, or genuine sovereignty while an armed organization operates outside the authority of the state and foreign powers continue to interfere in Lebanon’s national decisions.
The path forward must strengthen the Lebanese state, support the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, confront Hezbollah and the networks that sustain it, protect the Lebanese people, restore legitimate institutions, and create the conditions for economic recovery and lasting stability.
Lebanon deserves one sovereign state, one legitimate national authority, and a future determined by the Lebanese people, not by militias or foreign powers.”
ALPI PAC therefore urges the United States Senate and House of Representatives to advance S. 5356 and encourages continued bipartisan congressional engagement in support of Lebanon’s sovereignty, legitimate state institutions, economic recovery, and long-term stability.
ALPI PAC will continue working with policymakers and the Lebanese-American community to advance U.S. policies that support a free, sovereign, secure, democratic, and independent Lebanon.
The complete text of S. 5356, the “Lebanon Sanctions, Stabilization, and Support Act,” is attached to this statement.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s5356is/pdf/BILLS-119s5356is.pdf
American Lebanese Policy Institute Political Action Committee (ALPI PAC)
