Hezbollah TV channel says Twitter accounts suspended

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 organisations 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 al-Assad in the neighboring country's eight-year conflict.