Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

US: Sudan to Designate Hezbollah Terror Group as Part of Israel Deal


Sat 24 Oct 2020 | 03:20 PM
H-Tayea

On Saturday, the Associated Press quoted a senior U.S. official as saying that the normalization agreement signed between Israel and Sudan includes the Sudanese government's designation of Hezbollah on terror list.

The official, who asked for anonymity, said that Sudan agreed to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, although the joint trilateral statement between the U.S.-Sudan –Israel on the normalization agreement did not address this issue.

Sudan has yet to comment on the matter.

On Friday, Sudan became the third Arab country since the start of 2020, following the UAE and Bahrain, to normalize relations and sign a peace agreement with Israel, mediated by the United States.

The move would mark a dramatic shift for Sudan, which was a staunch ally of Iran until 2016, helping the Islamic Republic smuggle rockets and other weapons to Palestinian terror groups in Gaza. This prompted Israel to repeatedly bomb military facilities in Sudan, according to foreign reports.

Hezbollah is Iran’s main proxy in the region, and both Israel and the US have been calling on the international community to join them in blacklisting the Lebanese Shiite terror group.

Sudan would be following the lead of Estonia and Guatemala, which both took official action against Hezbollah this week.

"Guatemala on Friday declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization, agreed to bar the group’s operatives from its territory and “to fight against financing” the terror group," Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.