Hezbollah a Terrorist Group: GCC
Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Wednesday declared Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist group.
“The Arab states of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have decided to consider Hezbollah militias, leaders, factions and organizations affiliated to them a terrorist organization,” GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif Al-Zayani said in a statement.
He said that GCC states have taken this decision as a result of hostile acts being carried out by elements of these militias to recruit young people of the GCC member states for carrying out terrorist acts, smuggling of weapons and explosives, and inciting sedition, disorder and violence in a flagrant violation of their sovereignty, security and stability.
“The GCC states consider that the actions of Hezbollah militias in member states and their terrorist and subversive acts being carried out in Syria, Yemen and Iraq contradict moral and humanitarian values and principles and international laws and they pose a threat to Arab national security,” the statement said.
The GCC states will take necessary measures to implement their decision in this regard based on anti-terrorism laws applied in the GCC and similar international laws, Al-Zayani said.
The Gulf nations have taken a series of measures against Hezbollah since Saudi Arabia last month halted a $3 billion program to aid Lebanese security forces.
Saudi Arabia last week extended sanctions on Hezbollah, freezing the assets and prohibiting dealings with three Lebanese nationals and four companies.
The Gulf states had already sanctioned Hezbollah in 2013, targeting residency permits and the movement’s financial and business activities in reprisal for its armed intervention in Syria.
The GCC’s decision brings it in line with the United States which has long considered Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization.
The EU only lists the military wing of Hezbollah on its terrorist blacklist. — With input from Agencies