Muallem Says Arab League Decision on Hizbullah ‘Absurd’

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Saturday that the Arab League’s branding of Hizbullah as a terrorist group was “shameful” and “absurd.”

“The latest decision taken by the Arab League on Hizbullah is absurd,” said Muallem at a news conference he held in Damascus.

“I support what the Iraqi foreign minister said about Hizbullah,” Muallem told reporters, adding “it is shameful what was said about the party.”

The Arab League on Friday formally branded Hizbullah a terrorist organization, a move that raises concerns of deepening divisions among Arab countries and ramps up the pressure on the Shiite group, which is fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The decision came during a foreign ministers' meeting of the Arab League at the organization's seat in Cairo.

The move aligns the 22-member league firmly behind Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, which made the same formal branding against Hizbullah last week.

Earlier in the day, the Saudi delegation stormed out of a league meeting in protest over a speech by Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari hailing Hizbullah and Shiite militias as "resistant movements."

"I only described Hizbullah as a resistant movement and rejected accusations against the Popular Mobilization Forces (a Shiite Iraqi group) and other resistant movements," al-Jaafari told the state daily Al-Ahram.

There was no immediate comment from Hizbullah. On its main evening newscast, the group's al-Manar TV reported on al-Jaafari's speech at the Arab League meeting without commenting on the league designation against the party.