Arab League has officially ceased referring to Hezbollah as a “terrorist organization,” according to an announcement by Hossam Zaki, the league’s assistant secretary-general, on Saturday.
“In previous Arab League decisions, Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization, and this designation was reflected in the resolutions, leading to the severing of communication based on these decisions,” Zaki told Al-Qahera News. “The member states of the League agreed that the label of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization should no longer be employed.”
This significant shift follows the Arab League’s initial designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization on March 11, 2016, a decision that had met with reservations from Lebanon and Iraq. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had similarly classified Hezbollah as a terrorist group on March 2, 2016, urging the organization to cease promoting extremism and sectarianism and to stop meddling in the internal affairs of countries.
The recent announcement came after Zaki’s visit to Beirut, where he met with Muhammad Raad, the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, which is affiliated with Hezbollah. This marked the first direct contact between the Arab League and Hezbollah in over a decade.
During his visit, which began on Tuesday, Zaki met with various Lebanese officials and political leaders to discuss ongoing tensions in southern Lebanon amid the “Israeli” war on Gaza and the country’s prolonged presidential vacancy, now in its 19th month. The discussions aimed at de-escalating the situation in southern Lebanon and finding a resolution to the presidential crisis.
