Hassan Nasrallah
Photo: Reuters
Egypt denies Nasrallah invite
Official in Cairo says recent report saying Egypt invited Hizbullah chief for official visit 'sounds like an experimental balloon'
An Egyptian official vehemently denied reports that Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had been invited to Cairo for an official visit.
"No such (invitation) has been extended," the senior Egyptian official was quoted as saying by the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat on Wednesday. "The report sounds like an experimental balloon."
On Tuesday the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported that Egypt was planning to invite Nasrallah to visit the country within the next two months. According to the report, it was not certain whether the Hizbullah chief would accept the invitation or send Mohammad Fneish, a Hizbullah member of the Lebanese parliament, to Cairo in his stead.
Cairo has been in contact with Lebanese officials in recent days in the framework of its efforts to help solve the domestic crisis in Lebanon and discuss the country's relations with Syria.
Arab media have reported over the past few weeks that Saudi Arabia has also extended an official invitation to Nasrallah in order to discuss the internal strife in Lebanon.
Nasrallah has remained in hiding since the Second Lebanon War and has rarely been seen in public. A trip to Egypt would be his first outside of Lebanon since the war broke out in the summer of 2006.
