[News] Hezbollah backs Egypt protests

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112716455777942.html

Hezbollah backs Egypt protests
Leader Nasrallah says protesters are fighting for 'Arab dignity' and 
slams US for supporting region's 'dictatorships'.
Last Modified: 07 Feb 2011 18:01 GMT

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has said that 
protesters calling for the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian 
president, are changing the region with their battle for "Arab dignity".

In his first comments since unrest began in Egypt almost two weeks 
ago, Nasrallah said on Monday that his Shia movement did not intend 
to intervene in the "internal business" of protesters, or to 
influence their decisions.

"Your movement will entirely change the face of our region for the 
interest of its own people," Nasrallah said in a televised address to 
a Beirut conference held in support of the Egyptian protests.

"You are going through the battle of Arab dignity, restoring the 
dignity of Arab people."

Egypt has been rocked by 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/anger-in-egypt/>two 
weeks of protests, with demonstrators demanding that Mubarak step 
down as president and that fresh elections are held with the field 
opened to all opposition parties.

Mubarak has agreed not to run for re-election in September, but has 
refused to step down before then, saying he 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201123195113546565.html>fears 
"chaos" if he does.

Mubarak's government has long been suspicious of Hezbollah's links to 
Iran and backs the Shia movement's political rivals in Lebanon.

Last year an Egyptian court sentenced Hezbollah member Sami Chehab to 
15 years in prison on charges of planning attacks in the country.

Hezbollah said Chehab escaped from jail last week during the chaos in Egypt.

Criticism of US

In his address, Nasrallah praised what he termed the achievements of 
the protesters in Egypt, saying they had been as significant as the 
2006 war between Hezbollah in and Israel in Lebanon.

He said he wished he could join protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, 
which has been the epicentre of demonstrations.

"What you have done is no less significant than the historic 
steadfastness the Islamic Resistance achieved in 2006 and the 
resistance in Gaza in 2008," he said, referring to the Israeli 
military assault on Gaza.

Nasrallah also lashed out at the US for what he termed "backing the 
worst dictatorships" in the Middle East.

"The United States is trying to contain the revolution and improve 
its own ugly image in the Middle East and Islamic world ... after 
years of backing the worst dictatorships our region has ever seen," 
Nasrallah said.

"But be sure that regimes allied with the United States and Israel 
cannot stand long against the will of the people."

On Friday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, termed the 
uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia an 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201124101233510493.html>"Islamic 
liberation movement", in a statement that was criticised both by 
Egyptian government officials and many protesters in the country.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on January 31 
that his country was following events in Egypt with 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201113177145613.html>"vigiliance 
and worry".

In remarks made on Monday, he warned that his country's peace 
treaties with others were not permanent, and could be cancelled, 
hinting that a change of government in Cairo could affect existing 
agreements between Israel and Egypt.




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