HezbollahU.K. sets to add Hezbollah to terrorist groups list

U.K. to officially acknowledge Hezbollah as a terrorist group // Source: brookings.edu

The United Kingdom will join the United States, Canada, France, and the Arab League in banning all wings of Hezbollah because of its destabilizing influence in the Middle East. The ban will apply not only to the Shiite group’s military wing, but to its political wing as well.

The U.K. Home office on Monday announced the move as part of a broader policy to add several Shiite Islamist groups to the U.K. terror-watch list. In addition to Hezbollah, the groups to be added to the list include Ansarul Islam and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam Muslimeen (JNIM).

The Independent reports that the measure, which need parliamentary approval, will go into effect this Friday. The measure will punish U.K. citizens who join, or call for support of, any of these groups with up to ten years in prison sentence.

The U.K. had until now distinguished between the military and political wing of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah was founded in the early 1980s with the support of Iran, and spent its early years fighting the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000.

In 2001, the United Kingdom proscribed membership in Hezbollah’s units operating outside of Lebanon, and in 2008 membership in Hezbollah’s military wing became a criminal offence.

“Hezbollah is continuing in its attempts to destabilize the fragile situation in the Middle East — and we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party,” Home Secretary Sajid Javid said as part of the statement. “Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety,” he added.

The United Kingdom is now one of eleven countries and entities which have classified Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. The list includes the Arab League, Canada, France, Israel, and the United States. Three others — Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union — have only added Hezbollah’s military wing to their terror watch lists.

Israel welcomed the U.K. move and urged the EU to do the same: “All who truly wish to combat terror must reject the fake distinction between ‘military’ & ‘political’ wings,” Gilad Erdan, Israel’s security minister, said in a tweet.

Hezbollah has been gaining strength in Lebanon. The Lebanese Shi’a group, and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, are the two main vehicles which Iran has used to expand its influence in the Middle East.