On Wednesday Australia listed all of Hezbollah as a “terrorist organization”, extending an existing ban on armed units to the entire movement, which wields considerable power over Lebanon.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that the Iran-backed Shiite group “continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations” and poses a “real” and “credible” threat to Australia.
Hezbollah defies easy definition – acting as part political party, part armed group and part provider of basic services to Lebanon’s Shiite community.
It has claimed responsibility for multiple rocket attacks on Israel and is the only side that has to date refused to disarm since the country’s devastating civil war ended in 1990.