The Arab League’s assistant secretary-general says the organisation has ceased referring to Hezbollah as a “terrorist organisation,” Anadolu reports.

In a televised statement on the Egyptian Al-Qahera News Channel the day after he concluded a visit to Beirut, Hossam Zaki said, “The member states of the league agreed that the label of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation should no longer be employed.”

On March 11, 2016, the Arab League classified Hezbollah as a “terrorist organisation,” 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”.

The classification occurred shortly after the Gulf Cooperation Council countries designated the Lebanese Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation on March 2, 2016.

On Friday, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported that Zaki visited Beirut and held a meeting with Muhammad Raad, the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc affiliated with Hezbollah. This marks the first contact between the Arab League and Hezbollah in more than a decade.

Zaki’s visit and statement coincided with heightened concerns about a potential escalation between Hezbollah and Israel over the war in Gaza.