Hezbollah European Union. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 in support of the Free Lebanon State, Israel occupied a strip of south Lebanon, which was controlled by the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Lebanese Christian militia supported by Israel. Hezbollah was founded in the early 1980s as part of an Iranian effort to aggregate a variety of militant Lebanese Shi'a groups into a unified organization. Hezbollah acts as a proxy for Iran in the ongoing Iran–Israel proxy conflict. Hezbollah was conceived by Muslim clerics and funded by Iran primarily to harass the Israeli occupation. Its leaders were followers of
Hezbollah The United States and France listed the entire group as a terrorist organization although the United Kingdom listed Hezbollah's military wing as well. Russia has considered Hezbollah a legitimate sociopolitical organization, and the People's Republic of China remains neutral, and maintains contacts with Hezbollah. In May 2013, France and Germany released statements that they will join other European countries in calling for a EU-blacklisting of Hezbollah as a terror group. The following entities have listed Hezbollah as a terror group: The following countries that do not consider Hezbollah a terror organization: The United States Department of State has designated Hezbollah