Press TV - Hezbollah is an anti-terror group which is fighting to prevent the Zionist terrorists from continuing to overrun the territory that does not belong to them in the Middle East, an American scholar says.

Kevin Barrett, an author, journalist and radio host with a Ph.D. in Islamic and Arabic Studies, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday after the Trump administration imposed a new round of sanctions on the Lebanese resistance movement.

The sanctions targeted individuals and international organizations that do business with the group.

Trump signed the sanctions legislation – known as the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act 2018 – against the resistance group on Thursday.

"Over the past year we have levied the highest sanctions ever imposed on Hezbollah – in a single year, by far. Just a few moments ago, I signed legislation imposing even more hard-hitting sanctions on Hezbollah to further starve them of their funds. And they are starving for them," Trump said during an event in Washington, DC, that marked the 35th anniversary of an attack on US marine barracks in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

Washington has for long accused Hezbollah of being behind the 1983 bombing attack, in which 241 US Marines were killed.

'Sanctions against Hezbollah a political stunt before midterms' 

Dr. Barrett said that sanctions against Hezbollah are a political stunt by President Donald Trump before the November 6 midterm elections.

“Trump is once again trying to distract from his other political problems by blaming somebody, in this case Hezbollah, slapping more sanctions on Hezbollah,” he said.

“I think Hezbollah is already very heavily sanctioned but Trump needs a political stunt. In any case, this is deceptive because naturally Trump is saying the same words that the Zionists put in his mouth and everyone else’s mouth claiming that Hezbollah is a terrorist group which is a lie," he stated.

“Hezbollah does not go out of his way to target civilians. That is the definition of terrorism. Terrorism is a military tactic and it is a tactic which consists of intentionally targeting civilians.  Hezbollah does not do that. On the contrary, Hezbollah is a resistance group which is fighting to prevent the Zionist terrorists from continuing to overrun the territory that does not belong to them in the Middle East, which is essentially everything in the Middle East," the analyst said.

“Nothing in Palestine or its surroundings belong to the Zionists. They came from Europe. They invaded, used terrorism as their main tactic. And the resistance groups typically are focusing on stopping this invasion and stopping terrorists," he noted.

“So Hezbollah actually is an anti-terror group but of course Trump being owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Zionist movement like most US politicians are -- in Trump’s case even more so given his son-in-law Kushner’s ties with Bibi Netanyahu," he observed.

“Obviously Trump is going to pay the Zionist propaganda card and used that to collect money for the election campaign, to scare up Zionist money for the Republicans in the coming congressional elections," he said.

“So here in the United States, the Zionists actually give about half of the money that comes into the federal elections. So that means they actually own our entire political process," the commentator said.

“And that’s politicians like Trump have to choose the Zionist line and side with the real terrorists in the Middle East which are Zionists rather than those who are trying to put an end to terrorism and extremism in the region," he stated.