Britain bans Hezbollah’s army

The British government said on Wednesday it was amending a ban on Hezbollah to cover its military wing and accused the Lebanese group of supporting terrorism in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The ban, which needs parliamentary approval, replaces one on Hezbollah's "external security organisation". It will outlaw the group's entire military wing in Britain.

"This means that it will be a criminal offence to belong to, fundraise and encourage support for the military wing of the organisation," the home office (interior ministry) said in a statement.

The statement said the group's political, social and humanitarian activities would remain unaffected.

It was not immediately clear how the amended ban would be implemented. Although the group comprises guerrilla fighters, members of parliament, social, medical and reconstruction workers, it is highly centralised and all members undergo military training.

Hezbollah has never denied helping Palestinian factions but has rarely revealed how. It has not claimed to aid Iraq groups, but its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in May announced that the group was unequivocally with the "Iraqi resistance".

"Hezbollah's military wing is providing active support to militants in Iraq who are responsible for attacks both on coalition forces and on Iraqi civilians, including providing training in the use of deadly roadside bombs," the home office statement said.

"Hezbollah's military wing also provides support to Palestinian terrorist groups in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It is because of this support for terrorism in Iraq and Occupied Palestinian Territories that the government has taken this action."

Toby Dodge, an Iraq specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said the move may have come at the request of the United States, and reflected suspicions that Iran was using its ally Hezbollah as a proxy against US-led coalition forces in Iraq.

"The suggestion is the Iranians are using Hezbollah as sub-contractors in Iraq," he said.

Dodge said the move also reflected London's unease over both Hezbollah's international role and its actions in Lebanon, where its fighters humbled the government in May in clashes that pushed the country to the brink of civil war. The crisis was later defused by a Qatari-mediated agreement.

Britain said it continued to urge Hezbollah to abandon its status as an armed group and take part in Lebanese democracy on the same terms as other political parties.

 

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