From the Liveblog of
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Arab League revokes Hezbollah’s designation as terror group
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
The Arab League no longer considers Hezbollah as a terror group, reverting a decision it adopted in March 2016.
Hossam Zaki, the Assistant Secretary-General of the pan-Arab organization, tells the Egyptian news channel Al-Qahera News during a visit to Beirut that “in earlier Arab League decisions, Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization. This terminology was reflected in our resolutions, and led to the severing of our communication with them [Hezbollah].”
“Member states of the Arab League have now agreed that this approach no longer applies,” Zaki says, noting that the change opens the possibility of a communication channel with the Shiite group.
Zaki also claims that the League does not maintain lists of terrorist organizations and has no need to attribute such designations.
It appears that its 2016 decision was made ad-hoc against the Lebanese group, as it came a few days after the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) took the same step. The Arab League is not known to consider any other group as terrorist.
The Times of Israel Community.