Hezbollah TV channel says Twitter accounts suspended

Hezbollah supporters burn tents in the protest camp set up by anti-government protesters near the government palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. (AP)

• “There is no place on Twitter for illegal terrorist organizations and violent extremist groups,” a Twitter spokesperson told AFP
• Iran-backed Hezbollah is designated a “terrorist” group by the United States and several of its officials are under US sanctions

BEIRUT: The television station of Lebanon’s powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah protested Saturday that most of its Twitter accounts had been suspended.
Al-Manar accused the US-based social media platform of giving in to “political pressures.”
“Account suspended,” one such Arabic-language account, @almanarnews, read late Saturday.
“There is no place on Twitter for illegal terrorist organizations and violent extremist groups,” a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.
The accounts in English, French and Spanish were also not available, but the Twitter handles of specific television shows seemed to be functioning.
Iran-backed Hezbollah is designated a “terrorist” group by the United States and several of its officials are under US sanctions, but it is also a key political player in Lebanon.
The group held three ministerial posts and a majority with its Christian allies before Lebanon’s cabinet fell this week after 13 days of mass anti-graft protests.
Hezbollah is the only group not to have disarmed after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and it fought Israeli troops who occupied southern Lebanon until 2000.
It has also been a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the neighboring country’s eight-year conflict.