The Bush administration is finally recognizing Hizbullah’s political clout in Lebanon.

CAIRO, March 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – In a major change of heart, the Bush administration seems ready to recognize the Lebanese Hizbullah movement as an enormous political force in the Arab country rather than a terrorist group, a leading US newspaper reported Thursday, March 10.

“The administration has an absolute aversion to admitting that Hizbullah has a role to play in Lebanon, but that is the path we're going down,” an administration officials told The New York Times.

The report comes two days after some 1.5 million Lebanese swarmed into central Beirut, in response to a call by Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.

“We thank Syria and pray that Syria will remain the fortress of heroes and live in dignity,” Nasrallah told the sea of people.

The US already considers Hizbullah, a political party which has 13 seats in the Lebanese parliament, a “foreign terrorist organization.”

On Friday, December 17, it placed Al-Manar television, which is associated with Hizbullah, on the Terrorist Exclusion List, prompting an end to its transmission across the country.

Only a few weeks ago, the US was tangling with France over Hizbullah’s status, as Paris blocked an effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to have Europe formally label the party a terrorist group, restricting its fund-raising.

Now, the Bush administration accepts the French view that it is wiser to encourage Hizbullah to be more involved in the political life, according to The New York Times.

“The main players are making Hezbollah a lower priority,” a western diplomat told the daily.

“There is a realization by France and the United States that if you tackle Hizbullah now, you array the Shiites against you. With elections coming in Lebanon, you don't want the entire Shiite community against you.”

Turning Point

Since the grisly assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, France has been calling for encouraging Hizbullah to be increasingly involved in politics, said The New York Times.

“Our own language on this has been since Hariri's death not to go too far beating up on Hizbullah,” a French official said.

“It might hurt, and it won't help. We could be a turning point now, with Hizbullah maybe turning to politics and politics alone. The United States is no longer making a case of using this issue to disarm Hizbullah and brutally crush them.”

Edward P. Djerejian, a former ambassador to Syria and now director of the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, agreed.

He said Hizbullah is “an important political and paramilitary force in Lebanon that cannot be ignored.”

The US and France have been piling pressure on Syria for a complete withdrawal of troops and intelligence services from Lebanon.

Last week, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told parliament he would withdraw Syrian troops to the Bekaa and then to the borders, in accordance with Taif Accord.

Under the 1990 accords that ended Lebanon's civil war, the country's many militias disarmed but Hizbullah has remained.

Thanks to resistance operations carried out by Hizbullah fighters, Israeli occupation troops were forced on May 24, 2000 to withdraw from a large territory in southern Lebanon, occupied by Israel in 1978.