UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt backs the government’s move to ban Hezbollah’s political wing under British anti-terror laws.
“We cannot and will not turn a blind eye to Hezbollah’s terrorist activities,” he says in a tweet. “So today we have announced they will be proscribed in full by the UK govt.
“This decision does not change our staunch support for Lebanon, nor our strong and broad relationship with the Lebanese people,” Hunt says.
Earlier today, British Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the government was “no longer able to distinguish” between the organization’s military and political wing, and accused the Iran-backed group of destabilizing the fragile situation in the Middle East.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt speaks at the the United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea, September 27, 2018 at the United Nations in New York. (AFP PHOTO / Don EMMERT)
Iran-backed Hezbollah made electoral gains in Lebanon last year and now has three ministers in government. The US and others accuse the group of destabilizing the region through military intervention in Syria on the side of President Bashar Assad’s government.
A draft order in the UK Parliament today will ban membership in Hezbollah, alongside Ansaroul Islam, which seeks to impose its strict view of Salafist Sharia law in Burkina Faso, and Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam Wal-Muslimin, which has similar aspirations in Africa’s Sahel region.
— with AP
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