Diplomats: EU Poised to Put Hizbullah's Military Wing on Terror List
The European Union stands poised to put the military wing of Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations after a formal request to blacklist the group was filed by a member state Monday, diplomats said.
The request from Britain formally launches a process to blacklist the group, a move that has long been requested by Israel and which will be discussed in early June, several EU diplomats told Agence France Presse.
"We hope to have an agreement by the end of June," one of the diplomats said, adding that EU experts would meet in a special committee to discuss the request early June.
Both Israel and the United States have pressured the 27-member bloc to follow their example and designate Hizbullah as a terrorist group but the issue remained sensitive and divisive, with Britain openly in favor while France and Italy were believed reluctant.
Informed French sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Sunday that France, which has been the most influential opponent of the move, has lately seen a change in stance and could approve the measure given that Hizbullah members are fighting alongside Syrian regime troops against the rebels.
They told al-Hayat that the French leadership favors putting some Hizbullah leaders on the terror list and not the entire military wing of the party.
During a visit in March, Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the EU to brand Hizbullah as terrorists, arguing that the movement's intervention in Syria against rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad was enabling the group to spread its reach.
"If you do not take measures against Hizbullah, then they may think that they are permitted" to do what they like, he said after a meeting with European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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