BICOM

The House of Commons will today debate whether to proscribe the Lebanese-based group Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation under UK terrorism legislation.

Since 2008 the UK proscribes only the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. Labour MP Joan Ryan will open the three-hour Backbench Business Committee debate on whether the entire Hezbollah organisation should be proscribed as a terror group in UK law.

Former Chief of the General Staff Lord (Richard) Dannatt called Hezbollah “the world’s premier terrorist entity – the only group of its kind capable of starting a major conventional war” in an article in The Spectator today. Lord Dannatt added that “abandoning the false distinction between the organisation’s ‘political’ and ‘terrorist’ wings… could potentially avert a conflict that would be both a disaster for an already reeling region and gravely detrimental to our own interest in a stable Middle East”.

According to the 2000 Terrorism Act, the Home Secretary may proscribe an organisation as “concerned in terrorism” if it commits or participates in acts of terrorism; prepares for terrorism; promotes or encourages terrorism (including the unlawful glorification of terrorism). Under UK law, financial assets of proscribed organisations may be subject to freezing and seizure and it is a criminal offence to be a member of or invite support for proscribed organisations.

The US State Department declared Hezbollah a terrorist organisation in 1997 and the US has imposed sanctions on the group since 2001. The Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council voted to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation earlier this year. Like the UK, the EU only proscribes the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation

In related news, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was in Oman yesterday and will meet Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Saudi Arabia today, with the conflict in Yemen top of the agenda. Ahead of the visit, Johnson sought to “reaffirm that there can be no military solution to the conflict – peace-talks are the only long-term solution for the people of Yemen”.