115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3342 
AN ACT 
To impose sanctions on foreign persons that are responsible 
for gross violations of internationally recognized human 
rights by reason of the use by Hizballah of civilians 
as human shields, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sanctioning 
Hizballah’s Illicit Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Human shields are civilians, prisoners of 
war, and other noncombatants whose presence is de-
signed to protect combatants and military objects 
from attack, and the use of human shields violates 
international law. 
(2) Throughout the 2006 conflict with the State 
of Israel, Hizballah forces utilized human shields to 
protect themselves from counterattacks by Israeli 
forces, including storing weapons inside civilian 
homes and firing rockets from inside populated civil-
ian areas. 
(3) Hizballah has rearmed to include an arsenal 
of over 150,000 missiles, and other destabilizing 
weapons provided by the Syrian and Iranian govern-
ments, which are concealed in Shiite villages in 
southern Lebanon, often beneath civilian infrastruc-
ture. 
(4) Hizballah is legally required to disarm 
under both United Nations Security Council Resolu-
tion 1701 (2006) and the Taif Agreement (1989).
(5) Hizballah maintains an armed military force 
within Lebanon’s sovereign territory in direct viola-
tion of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 
1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), thus preventing Leb-
anon from exerting its lawful control over its inter-
nationally recognized borders. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States to consider 
the use of human shields by Hizballah as a gross violation 
of internationally recognized human rights, to officially 
and publicly condemn the use of innocent civilians as 
human shields by Hizballah, and to take effective action 
against those that engage in the grave breach of inter-
national law through the use of human shields. 
SEC. 4. UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL. 
The President should direct the United States Per-
manent Representative to the United Nations to use the 
voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the 
United Nations Security Council to secure support for a 
resolution that would impose multilateral sanctions 
against Hizballah for its use of civilians as human shields.
SEC. 5. IDENTIFICATION OF FOREIGN PERSONS THAT ARE 
RESPONSIBLE FOR GROSS VIOLATIONS OF 
INTERNATIONALLY 
RECOGNIZED 
HUMAN 
RIGHTS BY REASON OF USE BY HIZBALLAH 
OF CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose sanc-
tions described in subsection (c) with respect to each per-
son on the list required under subsection (b). 
(b) LIST.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
President shall transmit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a list of the following: 
(A) Each foreign person that the President 
determines, based on credible evidence, is a 
member of Hizballah, or acting on behalf of 
Hizballah, that is responsible for or complicit 
in, or responsible for ordering, controlling, or 
otherwise directing, the use of civilians as 
human shields. 
(B) Each foreign person, or agency or in-
strumentality of a foreign state, that the Presi-
dent determines has provided, attempted to pro-
vide, or significantly facilitated the provision of, 
material support to a person described in sub-
paragraph (A).
(2) UPDATES.—The President shall transmit to 
the appropriate congressional committees an update 
of the list required under paragraph (1) as new in-
formation becomes available. 
(c) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions to be 
imposed on a foreign person or an agency or instrumen-
tality of a foreign state on the list required under sub-
section (b) are the following: 
(1) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The President 
shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi-
dent under the International Emergency Economic 
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent 
necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in 
property and interests in property of the foreign per-
son or of such agency or instrumentality of a foreign 
state if such property or interests in property are in 
the United States, come within the United States, or 
are or come within the possession or control of a 
United States person. 
(2) ALIENS INELIGIBLE FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, 
OR PAROLE.— 
(A) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 
alien who the Secretary of State or the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security determines is a
foreign person on the list required under sub-
section (b) is— 
(i) inadmissible to the United States; 
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 
documentation to enter the United States; 
and 
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 
or paroled into the United States or to re-
ceive any other benefit under the Immigra-
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 
seq.). 
(B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 
(i) IN GENERAL.—Any visa or other 
documentation issued to an alien who is a 
foreign person on the list required under 
subsection (b), regardless of when such 
visa or other documentation was issued, 
shall be revoked and such alien shall be de-
nied admission to the United States. 
(ii) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.—A rev-
ocation under clause (i)— 
(I) shall take effect immediately; 
and 
(II) shall automatically cancel 
any other valid visa or documentation
that is in the possession of the alien 
who is the subject of such revocation. 
(3) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 
subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-
national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that knowingly 
violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or 
causes a violation of regulations promulgated to 
carry out this section to the same extent that such 
penalties apply to a person that knowingly commits 
an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of such 
Act. 
(4) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The President may ex-
ercise all authorities provided to the President 
under sections 203 and 205 of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 
1702 and 1704) for purposes of carrying out 
this section. 
(B) ISSUANCE
OF
REGULATIONS.—Not 
later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the President shall, promul-
gate regulations as necessary for the implemen-
tation of this section and the amendments made 
by this section.
(C) NOTIFICATION
TO
CONGRESS.—Not 
later than 10 days before the promulgation of 
regulations under subparagraph (B), the Presi-
dent shall brief the appropriate congressional 
committees on the proposed regulations and the 
provisions of this section that the regulations 
are implementing. 
(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 
section may be construed to limit the authority of 
the President pursuant to the International Emer-
gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 
seq.) or any other relevant provision of law. 
(d) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-
tion of sanctions under this section for periods not to ex-
ceed 120 days with respect to a foreign person, or an agen-
cy or instrumentality of a foreign state, if the President 
reports to the appropriate congressional committees that 
such waiver is vital to the national security interests of 
the United States. 
(e) EXEMPTIONS.—Any activity subject to the report-
ing requirements under title V of the National Security 
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.), or to any authorized 
intelligence activities of the United States.
SEC. 6. REPORT. 
(a) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit 
to the appropriate congressional committees a report con-
taining a determination on whether each person described 
in subsection (b) meets the criteria described in subpara-
graph (A) or (B) of section 5(b)(1). 
(b) PERSONS DESCRIBED.—The persons described in 
this subsection are the following: 
(1) The Secretary General of Hizballah. 
(2) Members of the Hizballah Politburo. 
(3) Any other senior members of Hizballah or 
other associated entities that the President deter-
mines to be appropriate. 
(4) Any person, or agency or instrumentality of 
a foreign state that the President determines pro-
vides material support to Hizballah that supports its 
use of civilians as human shields. 
(c) FORM OF REPORT; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 
(1) FORM.—The report required under sub-
section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 
but may contain a classified annex. 
(2) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The unclassified 
portion of such report shall be made available to the 
public and posted on the internet website of the De-
partment of State—
(A) in English, Farsi, Arabic, and Azeri; 
and 
(B) in pre-compressed, easily downloadable 
versions that are made available in all appro-
priate formats. 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 
and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given such terms in 
section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1101). 
(2) AGENCY OR INSTRUMENTALITY OF A FOR-
EIGN STATE.—The term ‘‘agency or instrumentality 
of a foreign state’’ has the meaning given such term 
in section 1603(b) of title 28, United States Code. 
(3) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con-
gressional committees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Financial Services, 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means, the Committee on 
the Judiciary, and the Committee on Appro-
priations of the House of Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Foreign
Relations, the Committee on Finance, the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate. 
(4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-
son’’ means any citizen or national of a foreign 
country, or any entity not organized solely under the 
laws of the United States or existing solely in the 
United States. 
(5) FOREIGN STATE.—The term ‘‘foreign state’’ 
has the meaning given such term in section 1603(a) 
of title 28, United States Code. 
(6) 
UNITED
STATES
PERSON.—The 
term 
‘‘United States person’’ means any United States 
citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized 
under the laws of the United States (including for-
eign branches), or any person in the United States. 
(7) 
HIZBALLAH.—The 
term 
‘‘Hizballah’’ 
means— 
(A) the entity known as Hizballah and des-
ignated by the Secretary of State as a foreign 
terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1189); or 
(B) any person—
(i) the property or interests in prop-
erty of which are blocked pursuant to the 
International Emergency Economic Powers 
Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); and 
(ii) who is identified on the list of spe-
cially designated nationals and blocked 
persons maintained by the Office of For-
eign Assets Control of the Department of 
the Treasury as an agent, instrumentality, 
or affiliate of Hizballah. 
Passed the House of Representatives October 25, 
2017. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 3342 
AN ACT 
To impose sanctions on foreign persons that are re-
sponsible for gross violations of internationally 
recognized human rights by reason of the use by 
Hizballah of civilians as human shields, and for 
other purposes.