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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

EU debates Hezbollah’s role in Bulgaria bombing

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The July 18 bombing of a tourist bus in Bulgaria has not yet been forgotten. The bombing occurred on Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast, killing five tourists and wounding 30 people.

Israel immediately blamed Hezbollah, saying it was part of a series of terrorists attacks occurring all over the world in places including Thailand, Kenya, Turkey, India, Azerbaijan, Cyprus and Georgia. However, both Iran and Hezbollah (an anti-zionist militant group based in Lebanon that receives support from Iran and Syria) have denied any involvement in the recent terrorist attack in Bulgaria.

“This (attack) has nothing to do with Iran,” Gholamreza Bageri, the Iranian ambassador to Bulgaria, told reporters on Friday. “We are against any form of terrorism and strongly condemn such actions.”

Previous investigations made by Bulgaria, and aided by the U.S., have proven that there exists very little evidence that Hezbollah was behind the attack.

Other investigations done by Bulgaria have linked Hezbollah to the attack based on financial ties.

Rob Wainwright, Europol director, has claimed that the investigations reveal no link to Iran or any al-Qaida groups.

While investigations are still being made, Israel, as well as the United States, have been urging the European Union to act upon these attacks and blacklist Hezbollah.

There have also been calls for economic sanctions, but many E.U. states, such as France, have resisted the requests in need of time for reflection.

However, some European countries, such as Belgium, have declared its readiness to add Hezbollah to its list of terrorists groups.

Labeling Hezbollah as a terrorist organization would allow Europe to freeze funds of the group and control the travel of Hezbollah operatives.

In 1995 the United States placed Hezbollah on the list of terrorists after a series of attacks in Lebanon that killed hundreds of Americans.

New Secretary of State John Kerry urged the E.U. to take the step and said that their inaction is “making it harder to defend our countries.”

Although there is undeniable pressure from both the U.S. and Israel for the E.U. to blacklist Hezbollah, there is still some hesitancy among many European nation states to follow through.

At the current time, there is no legally grounding evidence that Hezbollah is to blame for the attacks. Although many news sources claim that Hezbollah was definitely behind it, the reality is that investigations are still being made and there is yet to be an announcement of the definite transgressors.

Catherine Ashton, the foreign policy chief for the E.U., said that there is “need for reflection over the outcome of the investigation,” so that E.U. member states would be able to discuss “the appropriate response based on all elements identified by investigators.”

One of the most important reasons the E.U. is hesitant to blacklist the terrorist group is because of the European ties with Lebanon.

Both Germany and France have expressed fear in terms of destabilizing Lebanon as well as losing their political power over the region.

However, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel claimed that if there soon exists proof of Hezbollah being involved in the terrorist attack, there will definitely be consequences.

“There must be unanimity among all member states in order to label Hezbollah as terrorists,” said Animesh Ghoshald, a DePaul economics professor. “That sort of unifacation over such a controversal issue is very unlikely.”

It seems the E.U. has not completely denied the desire to take action against the group, but are definitely skeptical about the consequences of taking the plunge and completely blacklisting Hezbollah.

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