Australia Designates Entirety of Hezbollah Group as 'Terrorist Organisation'
© AP Photo / Mohammed Zaatari
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The Australian Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security earlier issued a recommendation to have the entire Hezbollah group designated as a terrorist organisation. A decision on the matter has been kept pending since June.
The Australian government on Wednesday designated the entirety of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation over growing concerns that the group was providing support to other designated terrorist groups.
Announced by Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, the development is set to complicate any aid being dispatched to Lebanon, which has been facing severe political and economic hurdles over the last several months.
Addressing reporters, Andrews justified the government's decision by indicating that the organisation was offering support to at least two other designated terrorist groups - the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas' Iss al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
The Morrison Government intends to list the entirety of Hizballah and racist neo-Nazi group The Base as terrorist organisations under the criminal code. I will continue to take strong action to keep Australians safe from terrorism. pic.twitter.com/P1BW59WKzp
— Karen Andrews MP (@karenandrewsmp) November 24, 2021
Also announced at the news conference was the government's decision to slap The Base, a white supremacist group, with their own terrorist label, especially after reports revealed that the group had been attempting to recruit individuals as young as 17 across the nation.
Andrews described The Base, which formed in 2018 and has since created various cells, as a "violent, racist and neo-Nazi organisation". The Base is already designated 'terrorist' by the UK and Canada.
Touching on Australia's terror threat, Andrews indicated that the level would be kept at "probable", but that the risk would ultimately shift once the nation reopens its borders, which have remained closed as a result of the pandemic.
"That means that we have credible intelligence that there are individuals with the capability and the intent to conduct a terrorist attack here in Australia," Andrews said. "We know that as we open our international borders people will start to gather and gather in greater numbers in crowds and that is the sort of thing terrorists look for."
"Now I am not here to scare people, I actually want people to go about their lives," she added.
Andrews' announcement regarding the Hezbollah designation comes weeks after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was urged by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to classify the whole of the Hezbollah group as a terrorist organisation.
However, it's worth noting that prior to the designation and Morrison's meeting with the Israeli prime minister, the Australian Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security had already recommended the designation in June. Until Wednesday, Australia had only classified Hezbollah's External Security Organisation.
