Matthias S Klein: Demonising Hizbullah is a blunder

Britain's attempt to crack down on the military wing of Hizbullah is likely to strengthen the Lebanese Shia organisation Last week, Israel and Hizbullah completed the first step of their latest "body exchange" - in return for the two Israeli soldiers captured by the Lebanese Shi'ite Islamist group two years ago, Israel released four HA fighters and a Druze Lebanese terrorist who'd been imprisoned for almost 30 years. This was widely portrayed as a great day for Hizbullah, and its media-savvy secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, as it proved – yet again – that the "party of God" keeps the promises it makes and continues to be the only Arab force that can deal with Israel on an equal footing. By pure coincidence, just the day before the swap the British parliament voted to induct Hizbullah's military arm into the UK list of... [read full story]