BICOM

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) yesterday announced that it has formally categorised Lebanon-based Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

The forum, which is comprised of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, released a statement in which GCC secretary general Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said “It is a militia. Hezbollah’s incitement and terrorist acts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq are contrary to morality and human values.” Hezbollah is fighting alongside President Assad’s troops in Syria, while its staunch ally Iran also backs rebel groups in Yemen.

The statement also said that Hezbollah is guilty of “hostile acts” against GCC member states, by recruiting young men from these countries for “terrorist attacks, smuggling weapons and explosives, stirring up sedition and incitement to chaos and violence.”

The announcement comes just two weeks after Saudi Arabia ended a £2 billion military aid package to Lebanon. Saudi officials were apparently dismayed that Lebanon failed to condemn attacks on Saudi missions in Iran following the execution of a senior Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is also reported to have ended the financial assistance due to Hezbollah’s growing influence in Lebanon.

Yesterday’s announcement comes within the context of growing antipathy between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, with both countries vying for regional influence and supremacy. The GCC’s recognition of Hezbollah as a terror group brings it into line with United States policy and that of the European Union which regards Hezbollah’s military wing as a terror group.

Hezbollah is the de facto ruler of southern Lebanon, where is possesses a large military arsenal, including an estimated 100,000 rockets aimed at Israel. Hezbollah has also planned and launched attacks on Israeli citizens across the world, most recently a bus bomb in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas which killed five Israeli tourists in 2012. Since then, Cypriot authorities have apprehended and sentenced two Hezbollah operatives planning attacks against Israelis on the island.