In the ECONOMIST, here"... propaganda or not, the underlying conflict between the Egyptian regime and Hizbullah is real enough. Egypt is committed to the pacification of the Gaza Strip, preferably in consultation with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that seized control of the territory in 2007. Egypt suspects Iran and its allies in the Arab world—Hizbullah, Syria, Islamic Jihad and Hamas—of seeking to maintain Gaza as a base for ongoing resistance operations against Israel....At a deeper level, Egypt's leaders are concerned at the prospect of an alliance between the Shia forces that produced the Islamic revolution in Iran, which led in turn to the rise of Hizbullah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition group in Egypt, and the inspiration for the creation of Hamas....By directly accusing Hizbullah and Iran of seeking to subvert security in Egypt, Mr Mubarak's regime has taken the dispute onto a higher plane. It will have to be prepared for, at the very least, a robust rhetorical response from Mr Nasrallah and, no doubt, from Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The prospect of a sharpening conflict between one of the West's principal allies in the Middle East and Iran could also pose problems for the moves that the US administration is making towards engagement with Iran."
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