Tensions between Egypt, a predominantly Sunni country, and Hezbollah, a Shi’ite group backed by Iran, have been running high since Nasrallah in December accused Cairo of complicity with Israel in its seige of the Gaza Strip. Cairo said on Wednesday it had detained 49 Egyptian, Palestinian and Lebanese men linked to Hezbollah, accusing them of planning attacks in Egypt, and on Sunday a prosecution source said five Egyptians and one Palestinian had been charged with spying and possessing firearms without a licence. The six men admitted having links with Hezbollah but denied other charges, the source said.
A separate prosecution source said the 49 men included at least one Sudanese national, and that police had found explosives and bomb-making material in their possession.
Nasrallah said in response that one of those held was a Hezbollah member and that he and up to 10 others were trying to supply military equipment to Hamas-run Gaza. He denied they had no plans for attacks inside Egypt.
The state-owned Egyptian newspaper al-Gomhouria newspaper said: “We do not allow you, monkey sheikh, to mock our judiciary, for you are a bandit and veteran criminal who killed your countrymen, but we will not allow you to threaten the security and safety of Egypt … and if you threaten its sovereignty, you will burn!”
The editorial, by editor Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, covered the front page and carried the headline “A criminal who knows no repentance” over a picture of Nasrallah.
“I say to you what every Egyptian knows, that you are an Iranian party,” Ibrahim wrote. “Are there instructions from Iran to drag Egypt into a conflict?”
