Beirut has rejected a US call to freeze the assets of Hezbollah, claiming it is a resistance group and not a terrorist organisation. Following a meeting with Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on 8 November, US Ambassador Vincent Battle said that 'the answer of the Lebanese government is to continue to insist on the distinction that they have for many, many weeks now put forward between resistance organisations and terrorist organisations'. Battle said that Washington was unlikely to change its classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist group, but that Lebanese banks would 'have to report to a committee under UN Security Council resolutions and not the United States'.