BEIRUT: Hezbollah officials said yesterday they would welcome talks with Britain but that they had rejected what they said were British demands for the contacts to take place secretly.
Britain’s Foreign Office announced Thursday that it has contacted Hezbollah’s political wing in an attempt to reach out to its legislators.
Britain ceased contact with the group in 2005 and listed its military wing as a terrorist organization last year.
Hezbollah became part of a unity government in Lebanon in May after violent street clashes with rivals in which its gunmen took over large parts of Beirut.
Mahmoud Komati, deputy leader of Hezbollah’s political bureau, said that if Britain wants to engage the group, the talks should be held in public.
“The British have been constantly trying for nearly a year to hold a dialogue with us, but they wanted a secret dialogue,” Komati said.
Komati added that Britain’s effort to talk to the group demonstrates the mistake of labeling it a terrorist organization.
