Hizbollah calls on supporters to donate as sanctions pressure bites

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Hizbollah on Friday called on its supporters to donate money as it comes under increasing pressure from Western sanctions intended to isolate it financially.

The United States deems all parts of Hizbollah a terrorist organisation and has been steadily increasing financial sanctions against the Iran-backed movement.

“I announce today that the resistance is in need of its [popular base],” Hizbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, adding that donations were needed to support the group’s activities.

The Shiite Muslim Hizbollah is part of the Lebanese government. It is also heavily armed and has sent fighters to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

Britain last month said it would list all elements of Hizbollah as a terrorist organisation for destabilising the Middle East, breaking with the rest of the European Union which proscribes only its military wing.

In a televised speech, Nasrallah said other nations may follow Britain’s example.

“The sanctions and the terror lists are a form of war... we should deal with them as if they are a war,” he said.

He called on Hizbollah supporters to remain steadfast in the face of these pressures and said the group’s enemies would be “disappointed”.

“Their actions will not be able to make us poor, hungry or isolated. Those that support us will continue in their support — be they countries, people or our people and the people of resistance in Lebanon,” Nasrallah said.

Hizbollah was founded in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Its influence has expanded at home in Lebanon and in the region.

The group controls three of 30 ministries in the Lebanese government led by Western-backed Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri, the largest number ever. It does not acknowledge having separate political and military wings.

Hizbollah and political allies that view its arsenal as an asset to Lebanon won more than 70 of parliament’s 128 seats in an election last year, a major blow to Lebanese parties that oppose its possession of weapons like the Christian Lebanese Forces, which enjoys close ties to US-allied Gulf states.