Germany brands Lebanese group Hezbollah a 'terrorist' organization, bans all its activities in the country
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer issued a ban on all activities of Hezbollah in the country on April 30 while police officers raided mosques and offices of the group across the country. The Lebanese group's history in the country goes back to the 1980s, but what led to Germany to label the group a "terrorist" organization, despite insisting it won't be declared so until last year?
The Interior Ministry said in a statement posted on its website, "The associations under investigation are suspected of forming part of Hezbollah due to their financial support and propaganda for the terrorist organization," the ministry said in a statement posted on its website. It added the searches were conducted to "ensure that evidence of potential sub-organizations in Germany could not be destroyed when this ban was announced."
Last year, Niels Annen, deputy minister in the Foreign Ministry, told German magazine Der Spiegel that the Iran-backed Shiite Islamist movement is a relevant factor in Lebanese society and part of the complex political landscape in the country and added that Germany will not declare Lebanon's Hezbollah movement a terrorist organization.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement on April 30, "Hezbollah is a terrorist group believed to be responsible for numerous attacks and kidnappings," adding, "Hezbollah denies Israel's right to exist, threatens violence and terror and continues to massively upgrade its rocket arsenal."
Hezbollah - translated to "Party of God" - is a Shia Islamist political, military and social organization that wields considerable power in Lebanon and holds a majority in the Lebanese parliament along with its allies. The group's success came from its reputation as the most successful anti-Israeli military group in the Middle East has won support from Arab nationalists and the backing of Iran and Syria.
Hezbollah first began showing a presence in Germany in the wake of the Lebanese Civil War which resulted in a mass exodus in the 1980s. The Lebanese Shiite communities grew in the country at the time.
Matthew Levitt, an expert of Hezbollah and senior researcher for the Washington Policy Institute, noted of the group, "Hezbollah operatives mold into their environment and can be very difficult to identify."
According to German intelligence, Hezbollah’s operatives in the country are estimated at 1,500 members, raising funds and recruiting in the federal republic, and with about 30 mosques and cultural centers tied to the party.
Reports had emerged last year that the organization was using multiple locations in the country as financial centers for funneling money to subsidize terror attacks and purchase weapons. According to the German newspaper, Tagesspiegel's sources, Hezbollah engaged in money-laundering, recruitment, and fundraising in Germany and then forwarded the collected money from donations and such activities to Beirut to buy weapons and fund the group’s operations.
Germany's move to ban the group now means that Hezbollah's symbols will be banned at gatherings and in publications or in the media. Moreover, the groups' assets can be confiscated, however, because it is a foreign organization, it would not be possible to dissolve the group.
The group is already considered a "terrorist" organization by the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Israel as well as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Arab League.