The emblem of the Arab League. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Arab League has declared the Lebanese-based Shi’a Muslim group Hezbollah as a terrorist organization on Friday.

“The resolution of the League’s council [of foreign ministers] includes the designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist group,” a statement by the Arab League said.

The 22-member body, which is dominated by Sunni Arab States, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the decision, with only Lebanon and Iraq, which both have significant Shi’a Muslim populations and closer relations with Iran, not supporting the resolution.

The move by the Arab League comes after the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—also formally declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization earlier this month.

At the time, the GCC’s secretary general, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, declared that the six countries “consider the actions of Hezbollah militias in GCC countries, and the terrorist actions and incitements it conducts throughout Syria, Yemen, and Iraq…incompatible with the moral values, humanitarian principles, and international law, and [the actions] pose a threat to Arab national security.”

Many Western countries, including Israel, the United States, Canada and Australia already consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization. The European Union, meanwhile, has labeled only Hezbollah’s “military wing” as a terror group.