"At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.
Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah 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 the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik 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, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington."
One has to ask the critical question. If Israel perceived that Palestinians or the populace in Middle Eastern countries would vent their anger at Hezbollah because of the conflict it allegedly initiated, then it has backfired badly - if the report above, from the NY Times, is to be believed. Indeed, one needs to also ask whether Israeli intelligence didn't goof in not appreciating, let alone knowing, that Hezbollah had been planning its attack on Israel and accumulating a store-house of rockets.
Read the full article NY Times here.
Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah 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 the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik 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, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington."
One has to ask the critical question. If Israel perceived that Palestinians or the populace in Middle Eastern countries would vent their anger at Hezbollah because of the conflict it allegedly initiated, then it has backfired badly - if the report above, from the NY Times, is to be believed. Indeed, one needs to also ask whether Israeli intelligence didn't goof in not appreciating, let alone knowing, that Hezbollah had been planning its attack on Israel and accumulating a store-house of rockets.
Read the full article NY Times here.
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