June 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The deputy secretary general of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, announced this Saturday that the organization has removed the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah from its list of terrorist organizations.
“The member states of the League agreed that the label of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation should no longer be used,” said the number two of this Cairo-based organisation, which represents a total of 22 states.
Speaking to the Egyptian television channel Al Qahera News, the diplomat justified this decision by stressing that “the Arab League does not maintain lists of terrorists and does not actively try to designate entities in that way.”
Furthermore, as he explained, the objective is to “relaunch dialogue” with Hezbollah, suspended since March 2016, when it was labeled a “terrorist organization” after the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf did so ( GCC), accusing him of “promoting extremism and sectarianism, interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and supporting terrorism in the region.”
Zaki made the announcement following a visit to Beirut this week, where he met with Hezbollah parliamentary bloc leader Mohamed Raad. He also held talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Army Commander-in-Chief General Joseph Aoun.
These meetings have focused on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, as well as on the internal political situation in the country, which remains without a president since Michel Aoun’s mandate ended in October 2022.
Several countries continue to classify Hezbollah, whether its military or political wing, as a terrorist organisation, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
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