Hezbollah leader decries U.S. as partner in Lebanon's corruption

BEIRUT, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday lashed out at the United States and called on the Lebanese to find solutions to their country's crises instead of bowing to international pressures.

Acknowledging that "those behind corruption in Lebanon are Lebanese," the Hezbollah's leader said, "America is a partner in corruption" in the country.

"America is preventing deposits, loans and investments from coming to Lebanon," Nasrallah decried in a televised address, according to local English news website Naharnet.

He vowed that Hezbollah would not surrender, urging the need for cooperation and courage in finding solutions to the economic and political crisis in the country.

Since 2019, Lebanon has been struggling with unprecedented financial and economic crises that have led to the devaluation of the local currency by more than 95 percent, plunging over 80 percent of the population into poverty.

Lebanon is also suffering from the political impasse over presidential election after President Michel Aoun finished his six-year term in October last year. The parliament has failed for 11 times over the past six months to elect a new president for lack of consensus among political parties.

Political gridlock has slowed down the efforts to implement structural reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a bailout loan amounting to 3 billion U.S. dollars which could lead the country back to recovery.