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Nasrallah Rant

Nasrallah: No attacks planned Photo: AFP

Lieberman. Accused of assault on Egypt Photo: Eli Mandelbaum

Nasrallah confirms reports of arms smuggling through Egypt

Responding to Egyptian arrests of alleged Hizbullah operatives Nasrallah says smuggling of arms into Gaza 'is not a sin we need to apologize for'; also criticizes Cairo for siding with right-wing Israeli gov't

Ali Waked
Published: 04.10.09, 21:44 / Israel News

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah confirmed Friday that one of the members of his organization arrested in Egypt this week had been attempting to smuggle arms into the Gaza Strip.

Nasrallah also criticized Egypt's government for its neglect to arrange an Arab upheaval against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government following a number of controversial speeches made by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Arms Smuggling

Report: Hizbullah cell in Egypt smuggled arms into Gaza / Ali Waked and Reuters

(Video) Egypt's public prosecutor investigating accusations that Lebanese Shiite group recruited 49-member cell with aim of striking inside Egypt. Al-Hayat: Cell smuggled arms into Gaza. Analyst says 'this will add some fuel to Egyptian-Iranian political confrontation'

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On Thursday Egypt confirmed reports that it had arrested 49 alleged Hizbullah operatives and is currently investigating suspicions that they had been planning to commit terror attacks in the country.

The prosecution in Cairo announced that authorities received intelligence the detainees were planning attacks, and that they had scouted points along the Suez Canal and Egypt's border with Gaza.

Nasrallah said one of the detainees was a Lebanese Hizbullah operative smuggling arms to Gaza. "That is the only truth in the entire affair. Our man was smuggling arms to the Strip, but the rest of the accusations about terror attacks in Egypt are one big lie," he said in a televised address.

He added that this was not the first time members of his organization had been guilty of arms trafficking to Gaza.

"This is not an accusation that we are ashamed of, and if they want to accuse us of this, we admit guilt. This is not a sin we need to apologize for," he said.

But the Hizbullah chief rejected claims that his operatives were planning to commit attacks on Egyptian soil.

"We were surprised to hear the Egyptian prosecutor turn the accusations towards us, claiming that a network belonging to the organization wanted to harm the public order and safety in Egypt," he said.

'Israeli officials attacking Egypt'

Nasrallah also expressed his disdain for the Egyptian government's choice to battle his organization rather than the new government in Israel.

"While Israel is establishing a right-wing government the heads of which, especially Lieberman, have never ceased to attack Egypt and its presidents, we expected Egypt to launch an Arab summit to discuss developments in Israel, but instead the Egyptian regime has continued the same policy against the resistance organizations," he said.

He explained that Egypt's policies were an attempt at befriending the new US administration. "This assault is part of an assault against all resistance organizations and was intended to be liked by the American master of this regime," Nasrallah said.

The London-based al-Hayat reported Thursday that Egypt had uncovered a Hizbullah cell that had been smuggling arms from Sudan to Hamas-ruled Gaza through Egypt.

The newspaper quoted Egyptian sources as saying that a Lebanese national and two Palestinians who reside in Lebanon, who are suspected of belonging to the terror cell, recruited Bedouins in Sinai to help transfer the weapons into Gaza through the Rafah crossing.

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