Argentina's President Mauricio Macri has passed a decree designating Hezbollah as a terrorist group, 25 years after the Lebanese Shia organisation and its ally, Iran, were accused of the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.
The decision to outlaw Hezbollah in Argentina – based on a request from the US and Israel – comes amid rising tensions between the US, the UK and Iran after a series of accusations and counter-accusations, which started with the US alleging Iran had bombed of oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in May, which Tehran vehemently denied.
The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo is heading to Argentina for meetings with President Macri and after the commemoration ceremony he will attend the Western Hemisphere ministerial anti-terrorism summit on 19 July.
Events to commemorate the 1994 bombing began at the Argentinian embassy in Santiago last week and continued in Berlin, London, Madrid, Moscow, Geneva, Canberra, Rome and Tel Aviv.
At the Santiago ceremony Adrián Werthein, President of the Latin American Jewish Congress, said:
“This was an attack against all Argentinians, a sentiment that is shared by all in our country. It is essential that we continue to share the memory of the attack and demand justice on all levels. We hope the mass commemorations will reinforce to the international community the need to put an end to this scourge of terrorism.”
Several of those accused of involvement…
