Honduras to declare Hezbollah as a terrorist organization

Honduras will join Guatemala and other allied nations in declaring Hezbollah an international terrorist organization, the office of the Latin American country’s president announced Tuesday.

Last year, Argentina and Paraguay took the step against Hezbollah, prodding Guatemala’s incoming president to announce in November that his country would follow suit.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz welcomed the move as an “important step in the global war on terrorism,” adding that Israel was holding talks with other countries such as Germany, Australia, and Brazil in hopes they will follow suit.

The government of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is generally very pro-Israel, recently opened a trade office in Jerusalem and is expected to move its embassy to Jerusalem in the coming weeks.

Hezbollah is defined as a terror organization by the US, UK, Canada and the Arab League. The European Union currently deems only the group’s military wing as such.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 under the guidance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to combat Israel. It has since served as the Islamic Republic’s arm at Israel’s doorstep.

Hezbollah has risen from a small armed group located mainly in south Lebanon to a formidable force with a major presence in and influence on Lebanese politics.

The group possesses tens of thousands of trained fighters, as well as an array of sophisticated armaments. Its intervention in Syria on the side of President Bashar Assad also expanded its influence and reach in the region.

It has also been blamed for multiple terror attacks and terror plots targeting Israelis around the world.

Under UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon committed to disarming the Iran-backed terror group, but has failed to do so.

Source: TOI