Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has to pay millions of dollars in damages to a group of Americans during the Second Lebanon War with Israel in 2006, a US court has ordered.
The Court gives Hezbollah 14 days to file a written objection to the ruling.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled on Friday that Hezbollah owes over $1,110,000 in total damages to 12 families of US citizens injured in rocket attacks during the Second Lebanon War, represented in the lawsuit by attorneys Robert J. Tolchin of New York and Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Tel-Aviv.
Proceedings on the case brought under the US Anti-Terrorism Act began in 2009 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia but ended up in the court in New York in 2019 after a decade of going back and forth.
The lawsuit alleged that Hezbollah caused the plaintiffs physical and emotional injury and damaged their property.
Magistrate Judge Steven Tiscione ruled that Hezbollah is liable under the act that allows any US national injured by an act of international terrorism to sue in a US District Court for damages they sustained, and the US has designated Hezbollah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Stressing that civil lawsuits brought against militant groups are always difficult to enforce, Darshan-Leitner said that Judge Tiscione’s ruling is an important legal victory against the Iran-backed terrorist group.
Israeli lawyer underscored that, with this millions-worth US judgment against Hezbollah, can begin to locate and seize the terrorist group’s assets worldwide.
Back in 2006, Israel fought a monthlong war against the heavily armed Shiite militant group, pounding targets in Lebanon – including the international airport and other civilian infrastructure- while Hezbollah was bombing cities and towns in Israel’s north with thousands of rockets.
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