Arab League denies softening stance on Hezbollah terror label

The Arab League has appeared to retract statements made over the weekend that suggested the 22-member body had softened its stance on Lebanon's Hezbollah by removing it from the "terror list".

Arab League assistant secretary general, Hossam Zaki, retracted comments made on Saturday in which he had said the pan-Arab body no longer considered Lebanon's Hezbollah group to be a terrorist organisation.

A statement by Zaki said his earlier comments were "interpreted out of context" and did not mean to say "that the numerous reservations and objections to the [Hezbollah] party's behaviour, policies, actions and positions, not only domestically but also regionally, have disappeared", according to a report by Al Arabiya.

Zaki reaffirmed the Arab League's position on "maintaining Arab national security and combating terrorism".

His earlier comments came on the heels of a landmark visit to Beirut where he met several officials, including Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc leader Mohammed Raad, as well as caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

The meeting was the first of its kind since the Lebanese Shia group was declared by the Arab League as a "terrorist organisation" in 2016.

Lebanese media recently reported that removing the terror designation from Hezbollah was a "natural course" of the Beijing agreement, which saw diplomatic ties restored between Tehran and Gulf states as well as the reopening of Iranian embassies in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. 

It also came after the once-ostracised Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad was readmitted to the Arab League following a rapprochement with former regional rivals, including Gulf states.

The latest statements came amid regional tensions as Hezbollah and Israel trade near-daily cross-border attacks with fears of a full-scale war.

Israel lost sovereignty in north due to Hezbollah

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Israel had "lost sovereignty" in the north due to the persistent attacks Hezbollah has launched since October.

"People don't feel safe to go to their homes," Blinken said at the think tank Brookings Institute in Washington. "Absent doing something about the insecurity, people won’t have the confidence to return."

He spoke as close to 60,000 Israelis from northern border settlements are unable to return home and the areas remain largely empty.

International concern remained high that the nearly nine months of cross-border violence might escalate into a full-scale war.

Lufthansa Group on Monday halted night flights to and from Beirut until July 31 "due to the situation in the Middle East", a spokesperson for the company said.