BEIRUT: Lebanon will not impose sanctions on Syria, Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour said Monday, as Syria’s economy minister stressed that the measures will hurt every Arab.

"We do not agree with these sanctions and we will not go along with them," Mansour told Reuters.

“We said from the beginning that we won’t go along with any kind of sanctions against Syria because this [measure] will leave negative repercussions on many countries,” Mansour told Al-Jadid television channel.

His remarks followed a warning by Syrian Economy Minister Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar who said sanctions on Syria will hurt every Arab.

“These sanctions will, in addition to the Syrian citizen, hurt every Arab citizen that deals with Syria,” Shaar said in remarks published Monday.

He was referring to an Arab League decision on Sunday to impose economic sanctions on Syria in response to President Bashar Assad’s failure to halt a violent crackdown on an eight-month uprising against his rule.

Lebanon voted against the decision.

Syria and Lebanon’s economies are closely linked, with Syria the country’s only overland trade route and several Lebanese banks operating in Syria.

“The decision should be executed immediately,” Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told a news conference after he chaired a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.

Shaar criticized Sheikh Hamad for insisting sanctions were aimed at the Syrian regime, saying the comments were “misleading and hide the facts.”

“Sanctions, which include the Central Bank, will hurt all citizens because central banks across the world are agents for citizens and not states,” Shaar told As-Safir newspaper.

He warned that sanctions will have “reciprocal negative effects” among Arab countries “that have a similar pattern of consumption.”