‘EU set to add Hezbollah to list of terror groups’

The European Union’s foreign ministers are likely to designate Hezbollah’s military wing a terror group at their next meeting on July 22, according to a report Monday in Haaretz.

“There’s a good chance that an agreement will be reached to add Hezbollah to the list of terrorist groups as early as next Monday’s meeting,” a high-ranking Foreign Ministry source told the paper.

The 27-member group of foreign ministers will hold its EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting just a few days after a special team of experts assigned by the group will have held its meeting on the matter. According to reports, the Council is expected to reach a decision on the designation even if the experts fail to reach consensus.

Britain, backed by France, Germany and the Netherlands, has been the driving force behind the push to convince several reluctant governments, like Malta and the Czech Republic, to back the move. These governments fear the step could fuel more instability in the Middle East.

For the designation to be made, a unanimous vote of all 27 member states is required.

Efforts to name Hezbollah a terrorist group intensified after Bulgaria announced in February that it believed two Hezbollah operatives were responsible for a July 2012 attack in Burgas that killed six Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver, and after it became clear that the terror group had significantly increased its role in the Syrian conflict.

Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on EU states who refuse to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization to change course.

“It’s hard to see how you cannot have a consensus on Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,” Netanyahu said in Jerusalem during joint remarks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. “If Hezbollah isn’t a terrorist organization, I don’t know what is a terrorist organization. I mean, they’re butchering people left and right across the world and now in the cities of Syria.”