The Gulf Cooperation Council, (GCC) representing Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, announced on Wednesday that it is categorizing the Iran-allied Shi’ite militia Hizbullah as “a terrorist organization” so as to facilitate increased sanctions against group that controls much of Lebanon and is fighting for the survival of Syrian president Bashar al Assad.
Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani said the council would now “take the necessary measures to implement its decision … based on anti-terrorism laws applied in the GCC and similar international laws”.
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The GCC first imposed sanctions against Hizbullah in 2013 after it joined the Syrian civil war in support of Assad.
Zayani did not specify what might follow, but Saudi Arabia, the largest power in the GCC, said last week that it had blacklisted four companies and three Lebanese men for having links to Hizbullah, that the United States and Europe have long considered a terror group.
Zayani accused Hizbullah of committing “hostile acts” against GCC states, including recruiting young men to carry out “terrorist attacks, smuggling weapons and explosives, stirring up sedition and incitement to chaos and violence”.