The Arab League appeared to retract statements over the weekend that seemed to suggest it had softened its stance on Hezbollah.
According to Al-Ain media in the UAE, the Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, has clarified his statements and said they were taken out of context.
Days ago, reports said the Arab League had shifted its stance on Hezbollah and no longer sees it as a terrorist group.
In 2016, the League had said that Hezbollah is a terrorist group. However, the region is changing. The Arab League has welcomed Syria back after years of Syrian civil war, where the Arab state had been given the cold shoulder by the League. The Syrian regime is supported by Hezbollah and Iran.
However, the Arab League’s comments about Hezbollah come at a sensitive time for the region because of Israel-Hezbollah tensions. Iran wants to threaten Israel not to launch a military operation in Lebanon. The Arab League appears to want to reduce tensions and work toward a political solution in Lebanon.
After Zaki traveled to Lebanon and met with political party representatives, including Hezbollah, it was reported that the Arab League had shifted its stance on the terrorist group. Now, Zaki says his words were taken out of context. The previous statements do not mean “in any way the disappearance of the many reservations and objections to Hezbollah’s behavior, policies, actions, and positions, not only internally but also regionally,” the Arab League clarified.
The Arab League and Hezbollah
Zaki clarified that the “relevant decisions of the Arab League, most notably the decision on maintaining Arab national security and combating terrorism, which stipulates in one of its paragraphs refraining from providing any form of explicit or implicit support to entities or individuals involved in terrorist acts, including any militias or irregular armed groups, is a decision unanimously adopted by member states.”
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the Arab League, also stressed that the General Secretariat “is always committed to the full implementation of the decisions of the countries on all issues.” This generalized statement referenced the Arab League’s “solidarity with Lebanon.”
The point the Arab League is now trying to emphasize is that it is focused on the political issues within Lebanon and also concerns over a possible wider war with Israel. The League does not want to be dragged into controversy regarding Hezbollah. This is why it has tried to walk back reports that it softened its stance.
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