BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah has called on the Lebanese state to stand up for citizens being slapped with sanctions by the United States.

Speaking in a televised address Friday, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says the new government, which prime minister Saad Hariri has been appointed to form, cannot "turn its back" on those individuals.

The U.S., which considers the Iranian-backed militant Hezbollah group to be a terrorist organization, has been imposing sanctions on the group for decades. The U.S. and its Arab allies however have issued a new wave of sanctions this month that targeted the group's top leadership, as well as businessmen and companies that Washington says are funding the group.

Nasrallah described it as a "losing battle" and said his group would not be impacted.