The Australian government has branded the entirety of Hezbollah a terrorist organization, believing it poses a “real” and “credible” threat to the county. Previously, only the group’s military arm – dubbed the External Security Organization – was designated in Australia.
The Lebanese militant group “continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas,” said Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews. She did not give a specific reason for why the decision had been taken now.
The move means Australians are now legally prohibited from affiliating with or financing Hezbollah. This could potentially affect the country’s large Lebanese community, who make up 1 percent of the population.
The Australian parliament said Hezbollah aims to ultimately “create a Shi'a Islamic state in Lebanon and remove all Western and Israeli influences in the region. Hezbollah has employed military action and terror tactics in order to achieve its objectives.”
Hezbollah denounced Australia’s decision as a submission to U.S. and Zionist politics that serve Israeli interests, reported Lebanon’s National News Agency.
The US was the first country to classify both Hezbollah's military and political wings as terror groups. Both Slovenia and Latvia followed suit in December 2020. In a statement, the Slovenian foreign ministry said: "Hezbollah’s activities are intertwined with organized crime and the conduct of terrorist or paramilitary activities on a global scale.” Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Argentina and Colombia have so far only designated Hezbollah's military wing, not the political “party”.
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