Germany seeks compelling evidence before blacklisting Hezbollah

The German weekly magazine, Der Speigel, reported that the German government “is seeking to enlist Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.              

A spokesman of the German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said that the latter has contacted his Cypriot and Bulgarian counterparts, requesting “compelling evidence”, to authenticate Hezbollah’s involvement in the terrorist attack n Bulgaria’s Burgas, noting that the evidence should be sufficient to add the Hezbollah to the list of terrorist organizations.    

On Tuesday February 5th 2013, the Bulgarian authorities said that two individuals with links to Hezbollah were involved in a bomb attack on a bus in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas that killed five Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian driver and the bomber on July 2012.                  

Following the incident, Israel blamed the attack in the Black Sea city on Iran and Hezbollah.                

Both Hezbollah and Tehran denied responsibility and accused Israel of plotting and carrying out the blast.                    

The Netherlands said in August that the EU should follow the lead of the United States, which designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in the 1990s, a move that would enable the EU to freeze Hezbollah's assets in Europe.