UK expands Hezbollah asset freeze, targets entire organization

Previously it was only Hezbollah's Military Wing which was subject to asset freezing under UK government rules.

By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah carry the party's flag in Beirut (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED AZAKIR)
Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah carry the party's flag in Beirut
(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED AZAKIR)
Britain's Treasury said it has designated the entire Hezbollah organisation as a terrorist group under its Terrorism and Terrorist Financing rules, and as such its assets will be frozen.
Previously it was only Hezbollah's Military Wing which was subject to asset freezing under UK government rules.
Hezbollah, a heavily armed group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, was established in 1982 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and is an important part of a regional Tehran-led alliance known as "the axis of resistance".
In February 2019, the British government announced that it was no longer possible for them to distinguish between the political and the military wings of Hezbollah.
"It is clear the distinction between Hezbollah's military and political wings does not exist, and by proscribing Hezbollah in all its forms, the government is sending a clear signal that its destabilizing activities in the region are totally unacceptable and detrimental to the UK's national security," Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said back then, according to BBC.