Report: EU Seeking to Blacklist Hizbullah

The European Union is exerting efforts to label Hizbullah a terrorist organization and implement sanctions against it, political and intelligence sources have said.

The sources told the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah published on Tuesday that the EU would implement the sanctions not just on Hizbullah but on all those who support it and back it if the party was officially labeled a terrorist group.

The EU put Hizbullah’s military wing on its terror blacklist in 2013.

The blacklisting opened the way for EU governments to freeze any assets Hizbullah's military wing may have in Europe.

If the EU brands Hizbullah a terrorist group, it would follow in the footsteps of the Arab League which took a similar move on March 11.

The move aligned the 22-member league firmly behind Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, which made the same formal branding against Hizbullah on March 2.

It also brings the league in line with the United States, which is closely allied with the Gulf states and has long considered Hizbullah to be a terrorist organization.

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