Support for Hezbollah Growing in Mideast

An unidentified boy carries a toy machine gun during a demonstration as others hold up posters of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and shout anti-American and anti-Israel slogans Wednesday, July, 26, 2006, in Cairo, Egypt. Protests erupted around the Arab world as Israeli strikes continued on Lebanon and Gaza. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali) (Hasan Jamali - AP)

CAIRO, Egypt -- Rising Arab anger over the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah appears to have pushed conservative rulers in the region to refocus their criticism away from the Shiite guerrillas and onto Israel.

The most dramatic turn has come from Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally whose king initially rebuked Hezbollah for carrying out "uncalculated adventures" with a cross-border raid that captured two Israeli soldiers. This week, however, King Abdullah warned that "if the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war."

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, an important mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict for the last 25 years, now mixes his condemnation of Hezbollah's move with sharp criticism of Israel's response.

It was "disproportionate, to say the least," Mubarak said in remarks posted Friday on Time magazine's Web site. "Israel's response demonstrated a collective punishment against the Palestinians and the Lebanese. The bloodshed and the destruction caused by the Israelis went way too far."

Much of the initial reaction among Sunni Arab rulers was fueled by a dislike of Hezbollah and wariness of the guerrillas' Iranian backers, but that has been swept aside by a flood public anger at Israel.

Popular opinion in favor of Hezbollah has swelled as newspapers and television stations have shown graphic pictures of the suffering amid climbing civilian casualties.

"Arab states are still worried, especially about Iran and Iraq ... but right now we are talking about the destruction of Lebanon," said Hassan al-Ansari, head of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University. "When people see all the stuff going on they cannot sit idle."

The rhetoric also has focused on the United States and its support for Israel. Media reports have emphasized that Israel is striking Lebanon with U.S.-made warplanes and guided bombs.

During Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region, her statement that the conflict represented the growing pains of a "new Middle East" helped rally Arabs against Israel.

"The Zionist-American plan aims at dismantling resistance and redrawing the map under the banner of a new Middle East where the supreme hegemony is for Israel only," said Mohammed Habib, deputy leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. "All sects (of Islam) are in need of unity to deter the enemy."

Even Jordan's mainstream Al-Arab al Yawm newspaper carried a column saying that what Rice really meant was a Middle East free from all kinds of resistance.

Arab governments also have difficulty condemning Hezbollah without appearing to be condoning Israel's response.