The Arab League has removed the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization from the league’s terror group list, according to the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
Egyptian Ambassador Hossam Zaki made the announcement Saturday in a televised statement on the Al-Qahera News channel one day after concluding a visit to Beirut, where he met with Muhammad Ra’ad, head of the “Loyalty to the Resistance” bloc affiliated with Hezbollah. Zaki also met with other Lebanese officials on Friday, including political leaders from across the spectrum.
There has been no president in Lebanon for more than 19 months due to a lack of agreement on an appropriate candidate from among the diverse political factions, which considerably weakens any prospect of government control or intervention in the current bid by Hezbollah to start a war with Israel.
Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization by the Arab League on March 11, 2016. At that time, the League called on Hezbollah to “cease promoting extremism and sectarianism, refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of countries.” The designation followed a similar decision at that time, one week earlier (March 2, 2016), by the Gulf Cooperation Council nations.
But clearly, things have changed.
“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 said.
“The member states of the League agreed that the label of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization should no longer be employed,” he said, claiming the designation “no longer applies.”
He added that the Arab League “does not maintain terrorist lists and does not actively seek to designate entities in such a manner.”
