Editing Hezbollah (section)

==== In the Western world ====

{{cleanup section|reason=Outdated information and duplicate points|date=October 2024}}

The [[United States Department of State]] has designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization since 1995. The group remains on Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Terrorist lists. According to the [[Congressional Research Service]], "The U.S. government holds Hezbollah responsible for a number of attacks and hostage takings targeting Americans in Lebanon during the 1980s, including the [[1983 US embassy bombing in Beirut|bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in April 1983]] and the [[1983 Beirut barracks bombings|bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in October 1983]], which together killed 258 Americans. Hezbollah's operations outside of Lebanon, including its participation in bombings of Israeli and Jewish targets in Argentina during the 1990s and more recent training and liaison activities with Shiite insurgents in Iraq, have cemented the organization's reputation among U.S. policy makers as a capable and deadly adversary with potential global reach."<ref>Casey L. Addis & Christopher M. Blanchard, [https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R41446.pdf Hezbollah: Background and Issues for Congress], Congressional Research Service, 3 January 2011</ref> On 15 May 2025, two senior Hezbollah officials and two financial facilitators with new sanctions were targeted by the US, for their role in coordinating financial transfers to the Iran-backed group.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025 |title=US targets Iran-backed Hezbollah with new sanctions, Treasury Departments says |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us-targets-iran-backed-hezbollah-with-new-sanctions-treasury-departments-says-2025-05-15/}}</ref>

The United Kingdom was the first government to attempt to make a distinction between Hezbollah's political and military wings, declaring the latter a terrorist group in July 2008 after Hezbollah confirmed its association with Imad Mughniyeh.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chathamhouse.org/media/comment/view/193456|title=EU Listing of Hezbollah: Inevitable Decision with Unpredictable Consequences|work=Chatham House|access-date=5 May 2015|archive-date=21 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621082341/https://www.chathamhouse.org/media/comment/view/193456}}</ref> In 2019, the UK Government proscribed the entirety of Hezbollah as an organisation due to the difficulties in distunishing between the political and military wings, as a way of limiting its influence in the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2019 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/406 |access-date=1 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hizballah to be banned alongside other terrorist organisations |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hizballah-to-be-banned-alongside-other-terrorist-organisations |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref>

In 2012, British "Foreign Minister William Hague urged the European Union to place Hezbollah's military wing on its list of terrorist organizations".<ref>[http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/uk_urges_eu_to_classify_hezbollah_military_wing_as_terrorist_group "UK urges EU to classify Hezbollah military wing as terrorist group."] ''Jewish Journal''. 11 September 2012.</ref> The United States also urged the EU to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} In light of findings implicating Hezbollah in the [[2012 Burgas bus bombing|bus bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria in 2012]], there was renewed discussion within the European Union to label Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist group.<ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4382998,00.html "Germany backs terror label for Hezbollah."] ''Ynetnews''. 22 May 2013.</ref> On 22 July 2013, the European Union agreed to blacklist Hezbollah's military wing over concerns about its growing role in the Syrian conflict.<ref>{{cite news |title=European Union Adds Military Wing of Hezbollah to List of Terrorist Organizations |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/world/middleeast/european-union-adds-hezbollah-wing-to-terror-list.html |date=22 July 2013 |access-date=6 November 2013| first=James| last=Kanter|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

In the midst of the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, Russia's government declined to include Hezbollah in a newly released list of terrorist organizations, with Yuri Sapunov, the head of anti-terrorism for the [[Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation]], saying that they list only organizations which represent "the greatest threat to the security of our country".<ref>{{cite news |title=Hezbollah not on Russia's "terrorist" list |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072801433.html |agency=Associated Press |date=28 July 2006 |quote=Sapunov told Rossiiskaya Gazeta the list of 17 "includes only those organizations which represent the greatest threat to the security of our country." Groups linked to separatist militants in Chechnya and Islamic radicals in Central Asia made the list. |access-date=27 October 2007| first=Henry| last=Meyer |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Prior to the release of the list, Russian Defense Minister [[Sergei Ivanov]] called "on Hezbollah to stop resorting to any terrorist methods, including attacking neighboring states".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/know/read.php?itemid=4382<!-- haaretz link not found --> |title=Russian defense minister says Hezbollah uses 'terrorist methods' |date=15 July 2006 |work=[[Haaretz]] Service and News Agencies |access-date=27 October 2007}}</ref>

The Quartet's fourth member, the United Nations, does not maintain such a list,<ref>United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee [https://www.un.org/en/sc/ctc/ Portal]. Retrieved 7 August 2006.</ref> however, the United Nations has made repeated calls for Hezbollah to disarm and accused the group of destabilizing the region and causing harm to Lebanese civilians.<ref>Bajpai, Arunoday. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lugDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT54 "Pratiyogita Darpan."] ''Pratiyogita Darpan''. October 2006. 9 January 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/14/mideast.main/index.html|title=Lebanon truce holds despite clashes|publisher=CNN|date=15 August 2006|access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref><ref>Frank, Thomas. [https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-07-17-israel-strategy_x.htm "Israel says it doesn't plan to occupy Lebanon."] ''USA Today''. 18 July 2006. 9 January 2011.</ref> Human rights organizations [[Amnesty International]] and [[Human Rights Watch]] have accused Hezbollah of committing [[war crimes]] against Israeli civilians.<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/08/04/israellebanon-hezbollah-must-end-attacks-civilians "Israel/Lebanon: Hezbollah Must End Attacks on Civilians."] [[Human Rights Watch]]. 4 August 2006. 9 January 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/14/amnesty.hezbollah/index.html?_s=PM:WORLD|title=Amnesty: Hezbollah guilty of war crimes|publisher=CNN|date=14 September 2006|access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author=Cowell, Alan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/world/middleeast/14amnesty.html|title=Amnesty International Says Hezbollah Committed War Crimes|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=14 September 2006|access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605053520/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060914.whezbollah0914/BNStory/International|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060914.whezbollah0914/BNStory/International |title=Amnesty: Hezbollah committed war crimes against Israel |work=Globe and Mail /AP |author=Katie Fretland |date=14 September 2006 |archive-date=5 June 2008 |access-date=20 October 2012 |location=Toronto}}</ref>

Argentine prosecutors hold Hezbollah and their financial supporters in Iran responsible for the [[1994 AMIA Bombing]] of a Jewish cultural center, described by the [[Associated Press]] as "the worst terrorist attack on Argentine soil", in which "[e]ighty-five people were killed and more than 200 others injured".<ref name="Argentine" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nysun.com/foreign/judge-arrest-ex-president-of-iran/43312/ |title=Judge: Arrest Ex-President Of Iran |work=The New York Sun |date=10 November 2006 |access-date=21 May 2011 |archive-date=23 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123215616/https://www.nysun.com/foreign/judge-arrest-ex-president-of-iran/43312/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, French Prime Minister [[Lionel Jospin]] condemned attacks by Hezbollah fighters on Israeli forces in south Lebanon, saying they were "terrorism" and not acts of resistance. "France condemns Hezbollah's attacks, and all types of terrorist attacks which may be carried out against soldiers, or possibly Israel's civilian population."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/655963.stm |title=French PM lashes Hezbollah 'terrorism' |publisher=BBC News |date=24 February 2000 |access-date=5 September 2013}}</ref>

Italian Foreign Minister [[Massimo D'Alema]] differentiated the wings of Hezbollah: "Apart from their well-known terrorist activities, they also have political standing and are socially engaged."<ref>{{cite news |last=Dershowitz |first=Alan M. |url=http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=33151 |title=Italian FM: Hezbollah, Hamas are not al-Qaida |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=29 August 2006 |access-date=21 May 2011}}</ref> Germany does not maintain its own list of terrorist organizations, having chosen to adopt the common EU list. However, German officials have indicated they would likely support designating Hezbollah a terrorist organization.<ref>[https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33808.pdf Germany's Relations with Israel: Background and Implications for German Middle East Policy] [[Congressional Research Service]] (19 January 2007)</ref>

The Netherlands regards Hezbollah as terrorist discussing it as such in official reports of their general intelligence and security service<ref name=nlfas>{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/world/netherlands/aivd2004-eng.pdf|title=Annual Report 2004|publisher=Netherlands General intelligence and security service}}</ref> and in official answers by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107072052/http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement%2C2008/10/Beantwoording-vragen---r-z-over-Hezbollah-en-de-EU.html |url=http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2008/10/Beantwoording-vragen---r-z-over-Hezbollah-en-de-EU.html |title=Answers to questions on Hezbollah and the EU (in Dutch) |date=14 October 2008 |archive-date=7 January 2009 |publisher=Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs }}</ref> On 22 July 2013, the [[European Union]] declared the military wings of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization; effectively blacklisting the entity.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/world/middleeast/european-union-adds-hezbollah-wing-to-terror-list.html|work=The New York Times |first1=James |last1=Kanter |first2=Jodi |last2=Rudoren |title=European Union Adds Military Wing of Hezbollah to List of Terrorist Organizations |date=22 July 2013}}</ref>

The [[United States]],<ref name="Designation-of-Foreign-Terrorist-Organizations" /> the [[Gulf Cooperation Council]],<ref name="GCC" /> [[Canada]],<ref name=h/> [[United Kingdom]],<ref name=UKban/> the [[Netherlands]],<ref name="Fairclough-Gordon-2012"/> [[Israel]],<ref name="Hezbollah – International terrorist organization"/> and [[Australia]]<ref name=guardaust>{{cite news|title=Australia lists neo-Nazi group The Base and Hezbollah as terrorist organisations|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/24/australia-lists-neo-nazi-group-the-base-and-hezbollah-as-terrorist-organisations|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=24 November 2021}}</ref> have classified Hezbollah as a [[List of designated terrorist groups|terrorist organization]]. In early 2015, the US [[Director of National Intelligence]] removed Hezbollah from the list of "active terrorist threats" against the United States while Hezbollah remained designated as terrorist by the US,<ref>"[http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-report-scraps-iran-hezbollah-from-list-of-terror-threats/ US intel report scrapped Iran from list of terror threats]", ''[[The Times of Israel]]'', 16 March 2015.</ref> and by mid 2015 several Hezbollah officials were sanctioned by the US for their role in facilitating military activity in the ongoing Syrian Civil War.<ref>{{cite news|title=U.S. imposes sanctions on Hezbollah officials for Syria support|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sanctions-hezbollah-idUSKCN0PV25J20150721|work=Reuters| access-date=15 October 2015|archive-date=15 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015233343/http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/us-sanctions-hezbollah-idUSKCN0PV25J20150721|url-status=live}}</ref> The European Union, [[France]]<ref name="Algemeiner-Journal-2013"/> and [[New Zealand]] have proscribed Hezbollah's military wing, but do not list Hezbollah as a whole as a terrorist organization.<ref name="NZ-r1373-terrorlist"/><ref name="Rudoren-Jodi-2013a" />

Serbia, which recently designated Iran-backed Hezbollah entirely as a terrorist organization, fully implement measures to restrict Hezbollah's operations and financial activities.<ref name="english.alarabiya.net"/>