AJC: Sheikh Nasrallah Again Reveals Terrorist Essence of Hezbollah

NEW YORK, May 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has openly admitted sending forces into Syria to aid the Assad regime, while threatening Israel with "game-changing weapons."

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"Hezbollah relishes the use of violence and terrorism," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The true essence and mission of Hezbollah are absolutely clear, Sheikh Nasrallah has once again reminded the world. Much firmer actions are needed in response, starting with the European Union, which should not dither or delay any longer in designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, as the U.S. and Canada have already done."

In a televised speech that the Beirut-based Daily Star described as "fiery," Nasrallah declared that Syria will provide Hezbollah with "sophisticated weapons" which his group has not possessed before. "We mean game-changing," the terrorist leader added.

Nasrallah, reviewing the historically close alliance of Hezbollah and Syria, pledged "moral, financial and logistical support, cooperation and coordination for the liberation of the Syrian Golan." The strategic territory, which Syria used for decades to threaten communities in Israel, was seized during the 1967 war, in which Israel was threatened with extinction by Syria and Egypt. Syria, unlike Jordan and Egypt, has since remained in a state of war against Israel, supporting, in alliance with Iran, terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.

Nasrallah spoke on the 25^th anniversary of Hezbollah's Al-Nour radio station, one of the terrorist organization's media outlets for disseminating its propaganda. Hezbollah, founded by Iran more than 30 years ago, is committed to Israel's destruction, and has carried its brand of terrorism, with Iranian support, to downtown Beirut, Buenos Aires, and Europe. A Cypriot court recently convicted a Hezbollah operative for plotting attacks in Nicosia that were eerily reminiscent of the terror attack last July in Bulgaria, for which the Sofia government has also blamed Hezbollah.

Nasrallah confirmed this month that Hezbollah has been active inside Syria, engaged in the civil war to boost the Assad regime. The war, now in its third year, has cost the lives of well over 70,000 Syrians, and produced millions of refugees inside Syria as well as in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

"What more does it take to convince those democratic countries still on the sidelines that Hezbollah warrants designation as a terrorist group?" Harris asked. "How many more innocent people in the Middle East, Europe and Latin America have to be targeted until action is taken?"

SOURCE American Jewish Committee