Germany's decision to prohibit Hezbollah and designate it a terror organisation is "succumbing to American will", the movement's leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday.
On 30 April, spokesman for the German Interior Ministry Steve Alter said that Minister Horst Seehofer had banned the activities of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement throughout the country.
Last December, the Bundestag called on the federal government to ban Hezbollah, explaining that Germany, where the movement has around a thousand supporters, is being used as a militant hideout and logistics centre.
The German lawmakers insisted that the government, in cooperation with its international partners, should make efforts to subdue the movement's influence in the Middle East, especially in Syria. However, they asked that only the movement's activities be banned, and not Hezbollah itself, given that the existence of its social and organisational structures had not yet been confirmed.
Syria and Iran condemned the decision, with Damascus saying that the decision had been taken under pressure from the United States and Israel.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, welcomed Germany's move.
