Hezbollah parliamentary leader Mohammad Raad received at his office in the Parliament British Ambassador to Lebanon Frances Mary Guy, on Thursday in the first such contact in Lebanon between the group's political wing and a senior British official.
"The talks covered the recent elections and the situation in the region," Raad said in a statement following the meeting in Parliament. I believe the doors are open to further meetings," he told AFP. Lebanon's outgoing government of national unity was to hold its last meeting on Thursday before parliament is dissolved later this month to make way for the new legislature elected in the June 7 polls.
The British embassy confirmed that the talks had covered local politics, as well as the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. Resolution 1701, passed unanimously in 2006, ended a devastating 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon. The resolution demanded the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon. A Foreign Office spokesperson in London said Britain would make a "distinction between those members of Hezbollah who are legitimately involved in Lebanese politics and those who are involved in violence and support terrorism. “ Our objective with Hezbollah remains unchanged: that they reject violence and play a constructive, democratic, and peaceful role in Lebanese politics, in line with the U.N. Security Council resolutions," she told AFP. "We will be taking a pragmatic approach to speaking to known moderates, political figures who to the best of our knowledge have no links with acts of violence."
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