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Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hizballah

[New York Times] Neil MacFarquhar - At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hizballah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the U.S. and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight. Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hizballah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming Hassan Nasrallah into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements. The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hizballah's main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.
2006-07-28 01:00:00
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