Talks aimed at adding the military wing of the Iran-backed Hizbollah militia to the EU’s list of terrorist organisations are to take place at the European foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday. The move is strongly backed by Britain. A Foreign Office official said that evidence of terror attacks by Hizbollah’s military wing was “compelling”.

The official said that a large number of EU member states, including France, already believed that its formal listing of Hizbollah as a terrorist group was fully justified.

“We are working closely with EU countries on this, and we want to reach a robust collective position.” the official said.