Russian ambassador to Lebanon: Hezbollah is not a terrorist organisation, it fights terrorism

Hezbollah is a Shia Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon, established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after Israel’s war with Lebanon in 1982.

The group is designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom, the United States and some Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Last year the US intensified sanctions on the group, including targeting two members of the Lebanese parliament for the first time, as well as the Jammal Trust Bank, which it claimed had ties to the group. The bank, which denied the charges, was forced to close afterward.