This week, HM Treasury designated Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist group and froze its assets in line with the UK Government’s decision last year under Home Secretary Sajid Javid to proscribe the organisation in full.
HM Treasury gave general notice of the final designation today, stating that “the group in its entirety is assessed to be concerned in terrorism and was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in March 2019”.
Hezbollah itself has “publicly denied a distinction between its military and political wings”, and the asset freeze will apply to “the Military Wing, the Jihad Council and all units reporting to it, including the External Security Organisation”, the statement read.
The UK previously only proscribed Hezbollah’s ‘military wing’, separating this from its so-called ‘political wing’. The decision to designate Hezbollah as a terror organisation in full came after cross-party parliamentarians regularly called for the group to be banned, in particular raising their concerns about the waving of Hezbollah flags on the streets of London at the annual Al-Quds Day rally.
Then-Home Secretary Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP said the decision “will make membership of any part of Hezbollah a criminal offence in the UK, it will give police the power to tackle those who fly their gun emblazoned flag on our streets inflaming community tensions. It will give us more power to disrupt the activity of an organisation who are committed to armed combat, who violently oppose the Israeli people, who destabilise the fragile Middle East, and help to prolong the brutal Syrian conflict, and whose attacks have reached into Europe”.
