Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah denounced Australia’s decision to classify it as a terrorist organization, accusing the country of demonstrating “servile submission to American and Zionist dictates.”
Here is what we know:
• In a statement published Wednesday, Hezbollah “strongly” denounced “the decision of the Australian authorities,” considering it “a humiliating submission to American and Zionist dictates” and saying that it “served Israeli interests and its policy of terrorism, murder and massacres.”
• The Australian government earlier Wednesday classified Lebanon’s pro-Iranian party Hezbollah and the neo-Nazi organization The Base as terrorists groups. The classification makes it illegal to join either of the two groups and membership in either organization punishable by up to 25 years’ imprisonment, according to Reuters.
• The United States and Israel have previously named Hezbollah as a “terrorist group.”
• Hezbollah’s statement reads: “This decision and similar decisions made by some Western countries will not affect the morale of our loyal people in Lebanon … nor the position of Hezbollah.”