The European Union is poised to blacklist the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, following a formal request from Britain to pursue such a designation.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said Tuesday: “We are calling for Europe to respond collectively and robustly following the atrocious terrorist attack at Burgas airport and in light of the recent conviction of an Hezbollah operative in Cyprus.”
He was referring to the bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian coastal resort in July 2012 that killed 5 Israelis and the Bulgarian driver, and to last month’s Cyprus court conviction of a confessed Hezbollah operative, Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, who was active in terrorist surveillance of Israeli tourists on the Mediterranean island.
''We firmly believe that an appropriate EU response would be to designate Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organisation. This would be in line with our national proscription of Hezb0llah’s military wing,'' the Foreign Officie spokesman said.
'We continue to work closely with our European partners on this issue to reach a robust, collective EU position," he added.
The British formal request means EU Member States must discuss the issue at a closed-door session of a special committee that examines the case for blacklisting an individual or group. The meeting of this committee is likely to take place June 4. Britain is pushing for an EU decision to follow later in June.
Any decision to add Hezbollah to the EU list of terror organizations – which include Hamas or the Colombian FARC- must be backed by all 27 member states based on concrete legal evidence. Until now several countries – including France and Germany –have been reluctant to make such a move for fear it could destabilize Lebanon where Hezbollah plays a role in the government.
Any of the EU's 27 member states can veto a designation.
The recent months, however, have seen authorities in several EU. countries pile on evidence that Hezbollah conducts terror-related activities on EU soil.
Bulgarian authorities have linked Hezbollah to the 2012 Burgas terrorist attack.
The Cypriot court changed the diplomatic equation, leading EU officials to separate Hezbollah's political and military wings in order to blacklist the latter.
Focus will now shift toward the degree to which that separation can be usefully maintained.
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem has deniedthat there is any distinction within Hezbollah, asserting that the "same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions."
The point has been confirmed by experts who have mapped out Hezbollah's leadership hierarchy. The US also does not recognize any distinction within Hezbollah, and has designated the entire organization.
Hezbollah has been on a US terror blacklist since 1995 after a series of anti-American attacks, including the bombing of the US embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut in the 1980s.
US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the US was "increasingly concerned about Hezbollah’s activities on a number of fronts -- including its stepped up terrorist campaign around the world, and their critical and ongoing support" for Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.
Asked just how the EU would differentiate in applying sanctions between members of Hezbollah’s military wing and its political leadership, an EU official said "we cannot comment on such detail."
But mounting global concern over the Shiite group's active support of Assad has finally swayed even the most reluctant EU nations into shifting gear.
"Hezbollah’s role in Syria convinced member states it was time to act," one diplomat told Agence France Presse.
With the US, US, Israel, Canada and the Netherlands are the only countries which currently list Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in its entirety — both its political and military wings.
Britain and Australia list Hizbollah’s military wing as a terrorist group.
A decision to ban Hezbollah in Europe would mean a freeze of the Lebanese group's accounts and funding, hitting its operations and terrorist activities on the continent.
During a visit to Brussels in March, Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the EU to put Hezbollah on the terrorist list, saying it was behind a score of attempted attacks in Europe and arguing that its intervention in Syria against anti-Assad rebels was enabling the group to spread its reach.
"If you do not take measures against Hezbollah, then they may think that they are permitted" to do what they like, Peres said after meeting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.