Calls grow for EU to ban Hezbollah

The White House is piling pressure on the EU to ban Hezbollah after Bulgarian authorities linked it to a bomb blast in Burgas which killed six people last year. The intended target was a group of Israeli tourists, of which five died in the attack along with their Bulgarian bus driver. An extensive investigation lasting more than six months identified the Lebanese terrorist group as the culprits. ‘Europe can no longer ignore the threat that this group poses to the Continent and to the world,’ wrote President Obama’s National Security Adviser, Thomas Donilon, in the New York Times. He continued:

‘The Bulgarian investigation has once again proved to the world what Hezbollah has tried for years to hide: that it remains engaged in international terrorist attacks against civilians.

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‘European governments must respond swiftly. They must disrupt [Hezbollah’s] operational networks, stop flows of financial assistance to the group, crack down on Hezbollah-linked criminal enterprises and condemn the organization’s leaders for their continued pursuit of terrorism.’