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Militant group Hezbollah has saved chemical compounds that can be utilized to make explosives in a number of European international locations, a senior State Department official stated as he appealed to international locations in Europe and elsewhere to impose bans on the group.
Hezbollah operatives have moved ammonium nitrate from Belgium to France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Switzerland in current years and are suspected to nonetheless be storing the fabric all through Europe, stated Nathan Sales, the State Department coordinator for counter-terrorism, on Thursday.
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound generally used as a fertilizer, however it may be used to make explosives. It can be harmful in storage, as demonstrated by the large explosion final month in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Sales, with out providing proof, stated the US believes that Iran-backed Hezbollah has since 2012 transported ammonium nitrate round Europe in first help kits with chilly packs that include the compound. The United States believes these provides are nonetheless in place all through Europe, presumably in Greece, Italy and Spain.
“Why would Hezbollah stockpile ammonium nitrate on European soil?” he stated. “The answer is clear: Hezbollah put these weapons in place so it could conduct major terrorist attacks whenever it or its masters in Tehran deemed necessary.” Sales made the remarks in a web-based discussion board hosted by the American Jewish Committee, which has known as upon extra international locations to ban Hezbollah and its operations.
The US has designated Hezbollah as a overseas terrorist group since 1997, however some international locations distinguish between the group’s navy wing and the political wing.
The EU lists Iran-backed Hezbollah’s navy wing as a banned terrorist group, however not its political wing, which has been half of Lebanese governments in current years. Some particular person international locations, together with Germany and the UK, have outlawed the group in its entirety. Sales known as on extra international locations to do the identical.
Hezbollah is a “unitary organization that cannot be subdivided into a military and so-called political wing,” he stated. Without a full ban, the group can nonetheless elevate cash and recruit operatives. “Hezbollah is one organization,” he stated. “It is a terrorist organization.”
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