LONDON — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took harsh action Wednesday against the Lebanese-based group Hezbollah, punishing it for supporting terrorist activities in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
The action against Hezbollah’s military wing will, if approved by Parliament, make it a crime to join or support the military wing of the radical group, which fought a bloody conflict with Israel two years ago.
Brown told lawmakers at the House of Commons that Britain will impose a ban on “Hezbollah’s entire military wing on the sole grounds of new evidence of its involvement in terrorism in Iraq and in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Hezbollah trainers are offering Shiite militia in Iraq specialist help in using roadside bombs, said Tony McNulty, Britain’s minister in charge of fighting terrorism.
Britain lists 59 groups as banned terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Hezbollah’s external security organization has been listed since 2001.
McNulty said the government is taking action amid concerns over Hezbollah’s influence over militia violence in southern Iraq, where Britain has 4,000 troops based on the fringes of the oil-rich city of Basra.
“Hezbollah’s military wing are providing active support to militants in Iraq who are responsible for attacks both on coalition forces and on Iraqi civilians, including providing training in the use of deadly roadside bombs,” McNulty said.
He said the group’s military wing also provides support to Palestinian militants.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking by video link to reporters in Beirut, said the decision came as no surprise. He described Britain as “a main partner in uprooting the Palestinian people and establishing the state of Israel.”
Brown insisted that Hezbollah’s social and political work in Britain will be unaffected, but the ban will place tight limits on fundraising.
