Germany follows US in designating Hezbollah as terrorist group

Police also conducted early morning raids on mosque associations in four cities across Germany. Security officials believe up to 1,050 people in Germany are members of the Hezbollah resistance movement, Reuters reported.

The Israeli regime and the United States had been pushing Germany to ban the organization.

On a trip to Berlin last year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped Germany would follow Britain in banning Hezbollah. Britain introduced legislation in February of last year that classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah was formed following the Israeli regime’s invasion of Lebanon and the ensuing occupation of its southern parts in the 1980s. It currently constitutes Lebanon’s de facto military power.  

The resistance movement has helped the national army retake the occupied regions from Tel Aviv and thwart two Israeli acts of aggression against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006.

It has also been playing a significant role in the Syrian army’s fight against foreign-backed Takfiri terror groups, thus preventing the infiltration of Daesh and al-Nusra Front militants into Lebanon.

The resistance movement, along with its allied parties, holds more than half the seats of the 128-member Lebanese parliament.

MNA/PR