A campaign has been launched calling on the British government to classify Hizbollah as a terrorist organisation.

The Lebanese group’s military wing currently falls under this categorisation, but the Israel-Britain Alliance (IBA) - a creation of the Zionist Federation group - wants it to be extended to the whole of Hizbollah.

The IBA explained in a statement that its decision had been prompted by the Gulf Cooperation Council’s move to categorise the Lebanese organisation as a terrorist group last month.

The six-member council of Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, alleged that Hizbollah had supported Iranian military action in Syria.

IBA director Michael McCann, a former Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair, also cited reports that Hizbollah has deliberately starved civilians in the Syrian town of Madayah.

“Even by the heart-breaking standards of the Syrian civil war, the starvation of civilian areas like Madayah is a reminder of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man,” he said.

“These crimes have once again shown us the barbarity of Hizbollah. The UK government boldly led the way on pushing the EU to recognise the military wing of this group as a terrorist organisation.”

Mr McCann added that after defining Daesh - also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - as a terrorist organisation, the government should do the same to “the other ISIL – the Islamic State of Iran and Lebanon.”