Lebanon shrugs at Britain's full ban on Hezbollah

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Jubran Bassil said Monday that the British government's decision to add the political wing of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah to its list of banned terrorist organisations will have no effect on Lebanon.

"This decision by Britain will not have a negative impact on Lebanon," Bassil said after meeting the European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Bassil added that "even if the entire world stands and says that the resistance Hezbollah is terrorist, it will not be a terrorist organisation in the eyes of the Lebanese."

Hezbollah's political wing has members in the 128-member Lebanese parliament as well as three ministers is the current cabinet of premier Saad al-Hariri.

"Hezbollah is continuing in its attempts to destabilise the fragile situation in the Middle East – and we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party," Home Secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement. "Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety," Javid said.

The ban on Hezbollah, which is trained and financed by Iran and closely allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, takes effect from Friday, subject to parliamentary approval.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has previously engaged in crisis diplomacy to shore up Lebanon's delicate power-sharing arrangements, made it clear his government would not follow London and Washington.

Paris had always distinguished between Hezbollah's military wing, "which we consider to be terrorist," and its political wing, "which is represented in parliament and can be dealt with and with which we have had discussions," Macron told journalists after meeting Iraqi President Barham Salih in Paris.

The distinction was necessary in order to fight against terrorism while still seeking to insulate Lebanon from regional conflicts, Macron added.

Javid said Britain will also ban the Ansaroul Islam group in Burkina Faso and Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam Wal-Muslimin (JNIM) in Mali.    (dpa)