“The Arab League foreign minister’s committee has decided on Friday to consider Hizbollah a terrorist organisation”, said a statement from the Arab League carried by Egyptian state news agency Mena.
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But they now confront each other to some extent in Yemen, too, and in Gulf states that claim to have broken up Hezbollah plots.
Saudi Arabia and Washington back some of the opposition factions fighting the Russian and Iranian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Kerry arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday to meet with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the Syrian crisis and Geneva peace talks.
Founded in Cairo in 1945, the Arab League is a regional organization of Arab states with the main goal of drawing closer inter-Arab relations and coordinating Arab positions on regional and worldwide issues.
Earlier in the day, the Saudi delegation briefly withdrew from discussions to protest against Iraqi foreign minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari’s refusal to label Hizbollah as terrorist.
The league’s decision also reflects deep regional divisions between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite powerhouse Iran, Hezbollah’s patron. The European Union only lists the military wing of Hezbollah on its terrorist blacklist.
The Iraqi minister rejected attempts to distort the image of Hezbollah, saying that the party’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah “is an Arab hero who defended values and principles”.
Reports from Egypt say, the Arab League has labelled the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah movement a terrorist organisation.
“We will deal with Hizbollah as we deal with any terrorist organisation”.
Adel al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia, “reiterated to the Secretary of State our commitment, as expressed by the GCC heads of state, to embark on a long-term reconstruction development plan from Yemen once the hostilities there end”.
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“Who gives Saudi Arabia the right to punish Lebanon and its army and Lebanese people living in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf just because Hezbollah is speaking out?”
