Australia Lists Hezbollah as Terrorist Organization

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that the Iran-backed Shiite group "continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations". Reuters
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that the Iran-backed Shiite group "continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations". Reuters
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Australia Lists Hezbollah as Terrorist Organization

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that the Iran-backed Shiite group "continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations". Reuters
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that the Iran-backed Shiite group "continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations". Reuters

Australia on Wednesday listed all of Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization", extending an existing ban on armed units to the entire movement.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that the Iran-backed Shiite group "continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations" and poses a "real" and "credible" threat to Australia.

Australia had since 2003 banned Hezbollah's so-called External Security Organization.

From now membership of the entire organization or providing funding for it will be proscribed in Australia, which has a large Lebanese community.

Matthew Levitt, a former US counter-terrorism financing official now with the Washington Institute for Near East policy, told AFP the move was "long overdue."

In June, he testified to the Australian parliament that the previous designation was "insufficient" adding that "Hezbollah is structured and operates as a singular organization."

"In recent years a laundry list of Hezbollah terrorist plots and illicit financial schemes have involved Australian citizens and/or activities on Australian soil," he said.

No reason was given for the timing of Canberra's decision, which comes as Lebanon reels from spiraling political and economic crises.

Before 2018 polls, Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the surprise move of recognizing west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, helping secure votes in a battleground Sydney seat with a sizable Jewish community.

Israel's embassy in Canberra welcomed the decision, saying "there is no division between the political and the military wings of the terror organization Hezbollah, and this acknowledgement is essential to combating the enduring threat of terrorism."



Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

 Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

 Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)

Palestinian group Hamas announced the names on Friday of four Israeli women soldier hostages to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the second swap under the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag would be released on Saturday, the group said.

The exchange, expected to begin on Saturday afternoon, follows the release on the ceasefire's first day last Sunday of three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian prisoners, the first such exchange for more than a year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed that the list had been received from the mediators. Israel's response would be presented later, it said in a statement.

Israeli media reported that the list of hostages slated for release was not in line with the original agreement, but it was not immediately clear whether this would have any impact on the planned exchange.

In the six-week first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier released, officials have said. That suggests that 200 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for the four.

The Hamas prisoners media office said it expected to get the names of 200 Palestinians to be freed on Saturday in the coming hours. It said the list was expected to include 120 prisoners serving life sentences and 80 prisoners with other lengthy sentences.

Since the release of the first three women on Sunday and the recovery of the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade, Israel says 94 Israelis and foreigners remain held in Gaza.

The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in Nov. 2023.

In the first phase, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and Israeli bombardment.

Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when fighters killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.

The release of the first three hostages last week brought an emotional response from Israelis. But the phased release has drawn protests from some Israelis who fear the deal will break down after women, children, elderly and ill hostages are freed in the first phase, condemning male hostages of military age whose fate is not to be resolved until later.

Others, including some in the government, feel the deal hands a victory to Hamas, which has reasserted its presence in Gaza despite vows of Israeli leaders to destroy it. Hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have demanded that Israel resume fighting at the end of the first phase.

Most of Hamas' top leadership and thousands of its fighters have been killed but the group's police have returned to the streets since the ceasefire.