AN, RIYADH:Saudi Arabia welcomed Lithuania’s decision to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and to prevent its members from entering the country. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it “noted the importance of this step, which reflects the extent of the international community’s awareness of the danger of the terrorist Hezbollah to regional and global security and stability.”
On Thursday, Lithuania announced its classification of the Lebanese Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, and issued a decree banning the entry of persons associated with it to its territory for a period of ten years.
This makes Lithuania the third European country to include the party on the list of terrorist organizations, after Britain and Germany.
Lithuania designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization
Lithuania on Thursday designated the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group as a terrorist organization and issued a 10-year ban on all individuals related to the Iran-backed group from entering the Baltic nation’s territory.
“After receiving valuable information from our foreign partners, we can assume that Hezbollah is functioning on the principles of terrorist organization,” Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said.
Linkevicius added, without elaborating, that some persons with the Iran-backed organization also pose threat to Lithuania’s national security.
Hezbollah emerged as a ragtag guerrilla group in the 1980s, funded by Iran to battle Israeli troops occupying southern Lebanon. A protracted guerrilla war, characterized by roadside bombs and sniper attacks, eventually forced Israel to withdraw in May 2000. With the exception of an inconclusive, monthlong war in 2006, the volatile frontier has largely remained calm.
The US and Israel, along with Britain, Germany, the Arab League and Gulf Arab states have also designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The European Union has only designated the group’s military wing as terrorist, in the aftermath of an attack on a tourist bus in Bulgaria in 2012.
