Ayrault has said that he will meet Kerry and foreign ministers Philip Hammond of Britain, Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italy’s Paolo Gentiloni.
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He also accused Saudi Arabia of seeking to cause strife between Sunnis and Shiites everywhere in the world and said its execution of al-Nimr in January came in that context.
They also denounce its alliance with the Syrian regime and Hezbollah while support rebels who have been fighting since 2011 to topple the Damascus government and President Bashar al-Assad.
The Arab League, dominated by Sunni Muslim countries, said the decision had been near unanimous.
“In his speech [the minister] said that Hashd Shaabi and Hizbollah had preserved the dignity of the Arabs and those who call them terrorists are the terrorists”, an Iraqi foreign ministry source said.
With the exception of Lebanon and Iraq, having expressed “reservations”, all member states of the pan-Arab body voted in favor of the decision, the League said in a statement read out by Bahraini diplomat Wahid Mubarak Sayar at a news conference.
Egypt’s state news agency says the Arab League has formally branded Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group a terrorist organization.
Last month, the Persian Gulf littoral state suspended $4 billion in aid to the Lebanese Army and police in response to stances taken by Lebanese officials.
Hours before the GCC decision, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a televised speech in which he harshly criticized Saudi Arabia for its punitive measures against Lebanon. The council comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The Revolutionary Guards created Hezbollah (Party of God) in the 1980s. Funded by Iran, it is the only side not to have put down weapons after Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990.
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The United States, Canada and Australia have also listed Hizbollah as a “terrorist” group, while the European Union has blacklisted its military wing.
