'Be cautious with Syria'

Bank of Beirut Beirut - George Shahin The United States has urged Lebanese banks to take “extra” caution in handling financial transactions with Syria, in order to prevent the president Bashar al-Assad's regime and its supporters from storing money abroad, the US's deputy Treasury secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen, said on Thursday. Cohen said there might be a leakage of capital out of Syria, adding: “We want to facilitate the capital transfer of individuals in Syria who are not supporting the regime and want to leave Syria and take their money with them.” “There is no reason that we would want to interfere with that”, Cohen said.