The United States is urging Lebanese banks to take "extra" caution in handling financial transactions with Syria, to prevent the Assad regime and its supporters from stashing money abroad, a senior Treasury official said Thursday. "We want to be as careful as possible that the regime, its cronies, its allies that may be trying to shield their assets might not be able to do so," said David Cohen, the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "We're working particularly with the Lebanese financial sector, which is very integrated with the Syrian financial sector," Cohen said, speaking at a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. [Link]