"Syria strongly condemns the German government's decision to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization", the ministry said, as quoted by the SANA news agency. According to Damascus, Germany's decision was taken under the pressure of Israel and the United States.
Earlier in the day, spokesman for the German Interior Ministry Steve Alter said that Minister Horst Seehofer banned the activities of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement across the country.
Last December, the Bundestag called on the federal government to ban Hezbollah, saying that Germany is used by the movement as a militant hideout and logistics centre. Politicians also called on the government to stop separating the political and militarized wing of the Lebanese movement.
In addition, the lawmakers insisted that the government, together with international partners, take measures to reduce the influence of Hezbollah in the Middle East, especially in Syria. At the same time, they asked to ban only the movement's activities but not the movement itself, since the existence of social and organizational structures of Hezbollah in Germany had not been established.
Hezbollah is a Lebanese political party and a militant group, whose primary basis of support is the country’s Shiite Muslim community. The group was formed as a self-defence force in the early 1980s during the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.
