The Arab League's Assistant Secretary General Hossam Zaki. (Photo: AA/VNA)

In a televised statement on the Egyptian Al-Qahera News Channel the day after he concluded his visit to Beirut, Zaki said that in previous Arab League decisions, Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization, leading to the severing of communication with the group. 

However, the member states of the League agreed that the label of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization should no longer be employed, he said.

During his visit to Lebanon, Zaki met with Lebanese officials, as well as various political and parliamentary leaders. This marked the first contact between the Arab League and Hezbollah in over a decade.

On March 11, 2016, the Arab League classified Hezbollah as a “terrorist organization,” with reservations from Lebanon and Iraq, and called for it to “cease promoting extremism and sectarianism, refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of countries, and withhold any support for terrorism and terrorists in the region.”