Mansour: We Adamantly Reject Placing Hizbullah on Any Terrorism List
Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stated that Hizbullah is an integral part of Lebanon's national and political fabric, reported As Safir newspaper Friday.
He therefore told the daily: “We adamantly reject placing the party on any terrorist list.”
“Hizbullah is represented at parliament and in the government and therefore listing it as a terrorist group is an attempt at political blackmail,” he continued.
“We do not want to politicize this issue,” remarked the minister.
He said that Israel and international powers are attempting to deem the party as a terrorist one, saying that their success will not help achieve stability and security.
On the Syrian conflict, Mansour said: “Lebanon has been adopting the policy of disassociation since the beginning of the crisis and it is distancing itself politically from this issue and its consequences.”
Lebanon does not back one Syrian side against the other, he explained.
Asked about Hizbullah's fighting in Syria's al-Qusayr region, the minister commented: “Some 20 Syrian villages lie near the Lebanese-Syrian border. They were not part of the crisis at first, but they soon became victims of skirmishes.”
“The Syrian army was not present in these regions, which were under the control of gunmen, so the residents made a cry for help” to other powers to aid them, explained Mansour.
“The Lebanese army deployed along the border in the northeast, but it cannot completely thwart the infiltration of gunmen,” he said.
Gulf Arab states will consider placing Hizbullah on its terror list, al-Rai daily reported Thursday.
Bahrain will ask foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss "placing Hizbullah on the terror list" at a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, it said.
The GCC includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier in May, France sought to call for the military arm of Hizbullah to be added to an European Union terror blacklist due to its backing of the Syrian regime.
"Because of the decisions that have been taken by Hizbullah and the fact that they are fighting very harshly the Syrian population, we have decided to ask that the military branch of the Hizbullah would be considered as a terrorist organization," said Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at the time.
The United States has long designated the group, which is backed by Iran, as a terrorist organization and has been pressing its European allies to follow suit.
Hizbullah has sent almost 1,700 fighters to the strategic town of Qusayr more than a week ago to support the Syrian regime's assault on the rebel stronghold.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has promised his fighters will help deliver "victory" in the battle, seen as pivotal in Syria's drawn out civil war in which more than 94,000 people have died.
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