United Kingdom designated the entire Hezbollah terrorist organization and freezes its assets

The United Kingdom designated the entire Hezbollah organization as a terrorist group and froze its assets.

The Finance Ministry move, which was announced Friday, is part of the implementation of the UK’s Terrorism and Terrorist Financing rules, Reuters reported.

Until now, only Hezbollah’s military wing was subject to having its assets frozen under UK rules.

In 2008, Britain banned Hezbollah’s armed wing. Last year, the government announced it will blacklist the entire group, but the announcement Friday is the first concrete step taken in that direction.

Hezbollah, which is 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.

Reuters did not specify the assets seized.

Source: JTA