PRISTINA—Kosovo has added Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations. The country’s president, Hashim Thaci, issued Thursday a decree obliging state institutions to create a list of people, groups and terrorist organisations involved in terrorist acts, subject to restrictive measures on Kosovo’s territory.
Thaci proposed that until creation of such a list, Kosovo’s institutions should implement the European Union list of persons, groups and organisations involved in terrorist acts, updated last January 8th. The EU’s list includes Hezbollah, the group which is based in Lebanon and backed by Iran.
The Kosovo leader said that as an active part of the global alliance against terrorism and violent extremism, Kosovo ‘’will continue its close cooperation with the United States of America, European Union and with other partners in elimination of any potential threat to Kosovo and its partners.’’
President Thaci’s move was welcomed by Jewish groups. Avital Leibovich, Director of the American Jewish Committee’s Israel Office, said : “Thank you Hashim Thaci for recognizing Hezbollah as a terror group! Hopefully this will bring Israel and Kosovo closer!” she wrote in Twitter.
The World Jewish Congress also lauded Kosovo’s move as a “principled step in the critical quest for international peace and security.”
“The global community has been terrorized for more than three decades by Hezbollah and its operatives, who have executed their violent actions under the patronage of the Islamic Republic of Iran across nearly every continent,” declared World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder in a statement.