EU foreign ministers on 22 July 2013 agreed to list the military wing of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. The agreement needed the agreement of all 28 of the EU's member states. It will now become illegal for European diplomats to meet its militant staff or for Hezbollah sympathisers in Europe to send the group money. Hezbollah has already been blacklisted by the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands.
Hezbollah has a powerful political organisation and, along with its allies, had dominance the last Lebanese cabinet, which resigned in March 2013.
What is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is a Shi'a Islamic militant group and political party based in Lebanon. Its paramilitary wing is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds. It is considered more powerful than the Lebanese Army.
• Hezbollah was conceived by Muslim clerics and funded by Iran following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon,
• It was primarily formed to offer resistance to the Israeli occupation.
• Its leaders were followers of Ayatollah Khomeini, and its forces were trained and organized by a contingent of 1,500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
• Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto listed its four main goals as Israel's final departure from Lebanon.
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