Report: Lebanon Tries in Vain to Stop Branding Hizbullah Terrorist at Islamic Summit
Lebanon has tried in vain to stop considering Hizbullah a terrorist group at a preparatory meeting for the Islamic summit that will be held in Turkey later this week, As Safir daily reported on Tuesday.
The meeting was held in Istanbul ahead of the talks of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Tuesday.
The OIC summit will be held on Thursday and Friday.
According to As Safir, Lebanon’s Ambassador to Riyadh Abdul Sater Issa, who represents Lebanon at the OIC for being based in Jeddah, has expressed reservations on a clause about Hizbullah.
The representatives of Iraq, Algeria, Iran and Indonesia did the same, said the newspaper.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam will represent Lebanon at the OIC summit.
He will travel at the head of a ministerial delegation that represents all the factions represented in the government because he wants to show the solidarity of the Lebanese with internal unity and Arab consensus, said As Safir.
Last month, the Arab League formally branded Hizbullah a terrorist organization, a move that raised concerns of deepening divisions among Arab countries and ramped up the pressure on the Shiite group, which is fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad in Syria.
The move aligned the 22-member league firmly behind Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, which have also made the same formal branding against Hizbullah.
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