The Arab League on Sunday classified Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a terrorist organization after an emergency meeting at its Cairo headquarters.
Arab foreign ministers in a final resolution condemned what it called the Iranian interference to destabilize the region, but the league will not declare war against Iran at the moment, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a press conference.
Aboul Gheit did not rule out that the league might consider going to UN Security Council to help prevent the Iranian intervention.
Photo: AFP
“Iran is aiming to control many of the Arab capitals,” he said.
The emergency meeting was held at the request of Saudi Arabia to discuss Iranian intervention in region and the ballistic missile launched from Yemen that targeted its capital, Riyadh, on Nov. 4.
Saudi Arabia later accused Iran of providing ballistic missiles to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and called the missile launch an Iranian act of war against the kingdom.
In opening remarks at the meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir warned Iran that Riyadh “will not hesitate to defend its national security to keep its people safe.”
In a resolution, the league issued a “strong condemnation” of this incident, saying it was “blatant aggression against the kingdom and a threat to Arab national security.”
The ministers affirmed Riyadh’s right to defend its territory and said they would support all legitimate procedures it might take “against these Iranian violation.”
They also tasked “the Arab group in New York to address the security council president to clarify Iranian violations” of a UN Security Council resolution on Tehran’s ballistic missiles program.
Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said Hezbollah was “in total control” of Lebanon.
“Iran’s biggest arm in the region at the moment is the terrorist Hezbollah arm,” he said.
Lebanon’s foreign minister did not attend Sunday’s meeting, but Beirut’s permanent representative to the league was present.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese