State Department: U.S. Policy toward Hizbullah Has Not Changed
The U.S. State Department stressed on Friday that its policy toward Hizbullah has not changed and reiterated that the Shiite party was "a force of instability in the region."
"U.S. policy toward Hizbullah has not changed. We do not make any distinction between the political and military wings," the Department”s Deputy Spokesman, Robert Wood, said during a press briefing.
"Until Hizbullah decides that it”s going to change and stop carrying out the acts of terrorism and other acts that are causing instability in the region, there”s no reason for our policy to change," he said in response to a question on President Barak Obama”s chief counterterrorism advisor John Brennan, who has said that a lot of Hizbullah members are renouncing terrorism and are trying to participate in the political process in a very legitimate fashion.
Wood said it "remains to be seen whether there are" some moderate elements in Hizbullah. "I”m not an expert on Hizbullah and the inner workings of that terrorist organization."
He also called the Shiite group "a force of instability in the region" even if Brennan claimed "there are people inside of that organization that may want to take a different approach."