According to a top State Department official, the European Union will finally designate Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group, as a terrorist organization like it does already with Hamas, the Islamist movement which control the Gaza Strip.
Daniel Benjamin, who is the US State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, said this week the State Department was "cautiously optimistic" on this possibility which would constrain the Iran-backed terror group's extensive non-profit fundraising, logistical, recruiting, training and propaganda activities throughout Europe.
The designation would be a major success for the campaign in the US to warn Europeans about increasing criminal Hezbollah activities on European soil.
"We’ve been engaging with our partners in Europe and we are cautiously optimistic – at last – about the prospects for an EU designation of the group," Benjamin said in an address to the Brookings Institution.
He didn’t mention a specific date for such a designation to be made but suggested the Europeans will have to "think hard about things in the next few months."
The US, which designates Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997, and Israel have put pressure on the EU to include the Lebanese group on its terror list and recently US officials have publicly been making the case that that designation would help with enforcement efforts against the organization's activities.
Some European nations, among them France, have long opposed labeling Hezbollah a terrorist entity.
Recently, more than half of the members of the US Senate have signed a resolution, initiated by Senator Joseph Lieberman, urging the EU to make the move.
The resolution called on President Barack Obama to provide information about Hezbollah to European allies of the United States and for those countries to support the government of Bulgaria’s investigation of the July 18 terrorist attack in Burgas, a touristic resort, in which a suicide bomber killed himself, five Israeli tourists and a bus driver.
The US and Israel have accused Hezbollah of being behind the bombing.
The Bulgarian government has announced it has made major advances in its investigation of the bombing and would likely be presenting its report at an EU meeting of Foreign Ministers in January.
The investigation conclusions could be a significant factor in an EU decision to blacklist Hezbollah.
Last July, the European Union turned down a request by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who travelled especially to Brussels, to blacklist Hezbollah as a terror group after the Bulgaria bus attack.
Bulgaria is a an EU member state.
At the time, the Cyprus EU presidency said there was "no consensus" for such a decision among the 27 member states.The EU argument was that Hezbollah is a "political organisation" comprising a party as well as an armed wing and that it is "active in Lebanese politics" -- with representatives in the government and in parliament.
But the EU specified it would consider outlawing the Lebanese group "should there be tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terrorism."
Any EU-backed move to do so would require a unanimous vote by all 27 member states.
France is widely seen as the main stumbling block to any moves to outlaw the organisation, on account of its historic close ties to Lebanon.
Analysts are divided on whether the stance is borne out of a desire to maintain diplomatic channels, out of fear of Hezbollah retaliation, or out of other considerations.
Whilst the Netherlands declared Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in 2004, declaring it does not differentiate between its political and terrorist wings, Britain does distinguish between the different elements, and has crucially only outlawed its militant wing. And in September, London urged the European Union to follow its example.
Hezbollah is also believed to to be responsible – as an Iran proxy - for several terror attacks around the world, including the infamous 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires which killed 85 people and injured several dozens others, as well the attack on the Israeli Embassy in the Argentinian capital two years earlier . The bombing killed 29 people and wounded several hundred.
Hezbollah, which was created in 1982, launched attacks against the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon and its military barracks in 1983, resulting in the murder of 258 Americans.
Israel also says that Iran and Hezbollah plotted to carry out more than 20 attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets over the past two years, in various countries including in Turkey, India, Thailand, Georgia.
Two months ago, in Cyprus, another EU country, a Lebanese was arrested by the Cypriot police. He reportedly admitted to be a member of Hezbollah and to be preparing an attack on Israeli tourists on the Mediterranean island. The investigation is still going on.