Egypt-Hezbollah standoff dents Egypt-Iran relations

The arrest of some 49 Hezbollah agents who were accused of plotting to carry out attacks against Israeli tourists at resorts in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula portends a verbal war between Egypt and Iran in the future and a worsening of already stale diplomatic relations between the two countries, Egyptian experts said.

The experts -- fanned by statements made by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on TV in which he confessed that the main suspect in the arrested group of operatives was a member of his organization -- said Iran uses Hezbollah as a pawn in its war with Egypt over influence in the Middle East.

"The tussle over this arrested group of operatives would seem on the surface to be a crisis between Egypt and Hezbollah," said Sherif Hafez, an Egyptian professor of political science. "But the reality is that this is the first series in a long war between Egypt and Iran over influence in the region. The problem is that Iran wants to liquidate Egypt's influence in this region," he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Egypt had announced a few days ago that a cell of 49 men with links to Hezbollah were planning attacks aimed at destabilizing the country. Nasrallah rejected the accusations but confirmed over the weekend that it had dispatched a member to Egypt, in a rare acknowledgment that the Lebanese militant group was operating in another Arab country.

This has infuriated the Egyptians even more, resulting in a groundswell of pronouncements and newspaper headlines, lashing out at Hezbollah and its main sponsor Iran. An avalanche of newspaper editorials and articles called for Nasrallah's arrest. Some journalists in the local media have even sounded the alarm bells over Egypt's sovereignty.

Absent from the minds of many, however, was the fact that the latest crisis was a reminder of the mounting friction between moderate countries in the region, namely Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and increasingly powerful Iranian and Syrian-backed militant groups like Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas. "Hezbollah acts in order to carry out an Iranian agenda in this region," said Emad Gad, an expert from al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, a local think-tank. "Iran wants to destabilize this region for its best interests," he added.

Egypt has sent a strongly-worded warning to Hezbollah against violating its sovereignty, threatening to target Hezbollah interests in other countries, according to the independent Arabic language daily al-Shorouk. The newspaper interviewed a source who spoke on condition of anonymity that Egypt had asked Hezbollah to refrain from using its territories in conducting secret operations.

Still what might cause Egypt's embarrassment is that while being interrogated, the members of the cell said they were in Egypt to offer support to the Palestinian resistance group of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip on Egypt's northeastern border. By arresting and embarking on the crackdown on Hezbollah, Egypt gave an impression of maneuvering against Hamas and sides with Israel.

"Hezbollah and the Iranians want to embarrass Egypt," Gad said. "But Egyptians have already understood the whole thing about the bogus fighters of Hezbollah." This, however, does not seem to be the whole case. Some Egyptians still are filled with disgust at the idea of their country obstructing whoever offers help to the Palestinians.

Tensions between Egypt and Hezbollah escalated earlier this year after Israel launched the offensive in Gaza, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians in the coastal territory. Israel said the attack was aimed at stopping Palestinian militants from launching rockets from Gaza into Israel.

Many Arabs criticized Egypt, one of only two Arab countries with a peace deal with Israel, for its inertia to stop the fighting and open its border with the Gaza Strip. Nasrallah had accused Egypt of "taking part in the crime" against Palestinians.

Egypt, a Sunni-dominated Arab country, has long been at odds with the Shiite Hezbollah and its main backer, Iran. But Hezbollah, along with its Palestinian ally, Hamas, earned support among many regular Egyptians who praise the groups for not recognizing Israel and launching attacks against the Jewish state.

"To some Arabs, fighting occupation has become synonymous to terrorism," wrote Fahmi Howeidy, an Egyptian writer in his column on al-Shorouk. "There will be a day when we look with surprise at those who offer help to the resistance." Some analysts also think that the current standoff between Egypt and Hezbollah might dent Egypt's clout in its mediation between Hamas and other Palestinian factions which are due to come to Cairo for inter-Palestinian talks on April 26.

Egypt has sponsored the talks among the Palestinians in what seemed an endless reconciliation process. The talks have stumbled on differences between Hamas and Fatah, which controls the West Bank. What remains strange, however, is that some sources have testified to the fact that Egyptian security forces have already tracked down the members of the Hezbollah cell since the year 2000.Despite this, the members of the cell were "arrested" only as few days ago.

Some local analysts said Egypt's security forces has made the crackdown with an eye to this country's next parliamentary elections, which will take place next year. They said the government of the ruling National Democratic Party wants to end public support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which sympathizes with Hezbollah and Hamas. The Brotherhood managed to win one-fifth of the seats at the Egyptian legislature in 2005, which made many brace for the coming of the Islamists in this populous Arab country.

Xinhuanet, April 13, 2009