Britain has desperately sought to blacklist Lebanon\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s resistance movement Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
In recent years Britain has been desperately leading efforts to blacklist Lebanon\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s resistance movement Hezbollah, which has a major political and social standing within the Lebanese society.\n<\/p>\n
Hezbollah has been on the United States list of terror organizations since October 1997.\n<\/p>\n
In Europe, only the Netherlands has fully branded the group as a terrorist organization since 2004.\n<\/p>\n
Britain also designated the group\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s External Security Organization in 2001, and then extended the designation in 2008 to include Hezbollah\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s entire military wing while making clear that the blacklisting does not include the group\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s political branch.\n<\/p>\n
Britain and the Netherlands have been pressing hard for the entire organization to be blacklisted by the European Union (EU).\n<\/p>\n
The EU, however, regards Hezbollah as an active political party in Lebanon. It says there is not enough evidence to warrant listing the Lebanese group as a terror group like the US.\n<\/p>\n
Any change in EU policy on Hezbollah, which needs unanimity among the 27-EU member states, has not so far achieved.\n<\/p>\n
Led by France, European countries argue that their relations with Lebanon, where Hezbollah provides extensive social services and its political wing holds government power, would be damaged by the designation.\n<\/p>\n
London has based its claim against Hezbollah on its alleged involvement in the conflict in Syria and in a bombing in Bulgaria.\n<\/p>\n
The bus bombing happened last July in the Black Sea resort of Burgas, where five Israeli tourists, a Bulgarian driver and the bomber were killed.\n<\/p>\n
On August 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron met with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov in London in order to level an accusation against Hezbollah, claiming the group was behind the July 18 bombing.\n<\/p>\n
On September 2012, British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged the EU to place the military branch of Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations.\n<\/p>\n
Hague said London would like to see the 27-nation bloc \u00c5\u201cdesignate and sanction the military branch\u201d of the organization.\n<\/p>\n
On January 2013, Cameron urged members of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) to \u00c5\u201cmake a noise\u201d and lead a grassroots campaign calling for the EU to take action against Hezbollah.\n<\/p>\n
On February 2013, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said the country\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s investigation into the bombing, which was conducted in cooperation with the Israelis and Americans, found that three people were involved in the attack and that two of them were members of Hezbollah. But Hezbollah dismissed the allegations of involvement in the bomb attack on the bus carrying Israeli tourists.\n<\/p>\n
In late February, after meeting Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in Beirut, Hague threatened Hezbollah resistance movement with \u00c5\u201cconsequences\u201d over the 2012 bombing in the East European country.\n<\/p>\n
On March 2013, the British Foreign Secretary reiterated the need for action against Hezbollah.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cWe already proscribe in the UK the military wing of Hezbollah and we would be in favor of that at the European level as well,\u201d he said on his way into a meeting of EU foreign ministers.\n<\/p>\n
On May 2013, Britain formally requested the European Union to designate Hezbollah as a terror group, despite massive opposition in the 27-nation bloc.\n<\/p>\n
“We are calling for Europe to respond collectively and robustly following the atrocious terrorist attack at Burgas airport … We firmly believe that an appropriate EU response would be to designate Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization,” a spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office said.\n<\/p>\n
In early June, Britain’s request was discussed at closed-door talks by a special EU working group.\n<\/p>\n
However, the UK government failed in its desperate attempt to blacklist the Lebanese resistance movement, as it was unable to convince its European allies that Hezbollah was behind the attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.\n<\/p>\n
SSM\/HE<\/p>\n<\/div>\n