Hezbollah Denies Diamond Extortion Claims

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20040630/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_hezbollah_diamonds

U.S. diplomats have accused Hezbollah of systematically siphoning profits, in part by threatening Lebanese merchants who long have handled much of the region's diamond business.

The allegations, detailed in an Associated Press article on Tuesday, are supported by independent analysts but denied by some traders. The diplomats claimed there is more organized and coercive Hezbollah profiteering from the diamond trade than most U.S. officials have previously acknowledged.

Hezbollah dismissed the accusations.

"There is no need to confirm the falseness of claims and invalid allegations propagated by the U.S. administration against Hezbollah," the group said in a statement faxed to AP in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.