Politics
ألمانيا تحظر جماعة حزب الله وتصنفها منظمة إرهابية وتنفذ مداهمات ضد مشتبه بهم بالإنتماء للتنظيم.
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By Riad Hamade and Andrew BlackmanApril 30, 2020, 8:25 AM GMT+3Updated on April 30, 2020, 1:49 PM GMT+3
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Germany has banned the Lebanese Shiitemilitant group Hezbollah from operating in the country, citing the organization’s anti-Israel stance.
The police early Thursday raided properties belonging to associations linked to Hezbollah in five German cities including Berlin and Dortmund, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Hezbollah’s military arm has long been banned in Germany, though the group had been allowed to pursue political and social activities.
“Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that’s carried out numerous attacks and kidnappings around the world,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a tweet. The fact that it questions Israel’s right to exist “means that we have a responsibility to do all we can to oppose it.”
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The U.K. took similar measures last year, declaring that Hezbollah’s non-military activities would also be considered a terrorist threat.
While discussions have previously taken place with European Union partners, Germany made the move on its own, as a change of the bloc’s stance on Hezbollah has been opposed by some member states, according to a person close to the matter.
Israel’s parliament speaker, Benny Gantz, hailed Germany’s move as “a significant step in the global fight against terrorism.”
Hezbollah is a proxy for Iran in its conflict with Israel and is trained and armed by the Islamic Republic. Its military wing waged an 18-year campaign to expel Israeli forces that had occupied southern Lebanon before withdrawing in 2000. Hezbollah and Israel fought each other to a draw in a monthlong war in 2006.
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The group’s paramilitary wing is the most powerful armed force in Lebanon, and has backed Syrian government forces in that country’s civil war. Its political arm is a power broker in Lebanon just as the country needs a major financial bailout.
— With assistance by Birgit Jennen(Updates to add comment on Germany’s move in fifth paragraph)