Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah
At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war. Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for 15 days, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group's leader into a folk hero. The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, "are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington. Even Al Qaeda, run by violent Sunni Muslim extremists normally hostile to all Shiites, has gotten into the act, with its deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, releasing a taped message saying that through its fighting in Iraq, his organization was also trying to liberate Palestine".
An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a "new Middle East" that they say has led only to violence and repression.
Read about it on Truthout here.
Tags for this entry: Hezbollah, Middle East, Israel.
posted by Annamarie at
9:00 PM
2 comment(s):
And, it is important to remember the unprecedented backlash, from Arab nations, against Hezbollah immediately following the abduction. Israel relinquished any moral underpinning with their wild offensive and subsequently Hezbollah emerges as a hero to a Muslim world anxious to see someone bloody their nose. I don't even think it matters what happens now, Hezbollah has won this war in the minds of the Arab world- doing what nations failed to in the past.
By
Steve V, at
11:32 PM
Exactly!
By
Annamarie, at
1:23 AM
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