EU urged by US to declare Hezbollah a terror group

EPA-EFE//MICHAEL REYNOLDS
US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.

- Advertisement -

Two MEPs said they would support the United States in their effort to persuade the European Union to declare Lebanon’s radical Shia Islamist group, Hezbollah, a terrorist group.
The move comes a day after Lebanon has formed a new government, led by prime minister Hassan Diab, who is backed by the group.
The US Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, and the American ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, met with German MEPs David McAllister and Michael Gahler on January 22 in Brussels to discuss the proposal.
“We will try to draft something that finds sufficient support,” McAllister and Gahler said after the meeting. They said, however, that a final decision would be up to the European Parliament’s main political groups.
“The meetings we had today were encouraging. I am hopeful we will soon see a European Parliament draft resolution to ban Hezbollah throughout Europe. We will then have lots of work to do to get it passed,” Grenell said.
The group was founded during the 1975-90 Lebanese Civil War by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It has been responsible for multiple acts of terror across the globe, including bombings and kidnappings of soldiers and civilians, as well as the execution of diplomats.
Hezbollah has been designated as a terror group by the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Germany, the Arab League, amongst others. France, however, which ruled over Lebanon as part of its colonial empire, continues to have ties to the country and has opposed any move to officially deem the whole of Hezbollah as terrorists as Paris believes it would be seen as a provocation by Lebanon’s Shiite community and by Iran.
Honduras was the most recent country to declare the group as terrorists.

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Latest

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Tariff Trouble in Trump Town

President Trump has had many a cartoon about him...

Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global...

The New Face of an Old Enemy: The renewed dangers of ISIS and al-Qaeda

A dangerous cocktail of indifference and complacency enabled al-Qaeda...

Don't miss

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Tariff Trouble in Trump Town

President Trump has had many a cartoon about him...

Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global...

The New Face of an Old Enemy: The renewed dangers of ISIS and al-Qaeda

A dangerous cocktail of indifference and complacency enabled al-Qaeda...

EU-Central Asia Civil Society Forum enhances regional cooperation, sustainable development

Almaty, the largest city and former capital of Kazakhstan,...

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law on February 2, aiming to ensure safety and ethical use of Artificial Intelligence. The European...

Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global markets with a three-day surge of tariff announcements, border security negotiations and ultimately a 30-day...

The New Face of an Old Enemy: The renewed dangers of ISIS and al-Qaeda

A dangerous cocktail of indifference and complacency enabled al-Qaeda to evolve from a shadowy fringe network in the early 1990s into one of the...

Donald Trump is inaugurated amidst promises of security, stability and prosperity

After storming a frigid Washington D.C. during his extended inauguration festivities on January 20, Donald J Trump, America’s 47th and 45th President, launched a...

The heat is on Trump’s fossil fuel push, climate change pushback

2024 has officially been confirmed as the warmest year on record, with global temperatures surpassing the 1.5°C threshold mentioned in the Paris Agreement, Alberto...

The Biden administration’s parting gift to Russia: Still more sanctions

Clearly working overtime to underscore the Biden administration’s desire to inflict maximum economic pain on Moscow and its coterie of Ukraine invasion supporters outside...

Undeclared “open season” on energy infrastructure in Europe

Russia is claiming it has shot down nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack the TurkStream pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Europe through...

Righteous indignation over Maduro’s inauguration unlikely to change Venezuela’s dark reality

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela was sworn in on January 10 for his third six-year term. Promising that his third term would be one...