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)

"The problem is, Hezbollah is not an army. It is part of the Lebanese community," al-Ansari said.

Some shifts in position have been more subtle than Saudi Arabia's.

Jordan initially accused unspecified forces of dragging Lebanon into conflict. Its government has recently focused on the rising civilian casualties, which King Abdullah II said were a result of Israel's "aggression."

Mubarak remained critical of Hezbollah, saying "some forces are provoking conflict ... to achieve their private interests." But at the same time he chastised the turn the fight has taken.

"Israel will lose a lot ... from the continuation of the military operation, which is concentrating, sadly, on civilian targets," the Egyptian leader said.

Fatma Hassan Al Sayegh, a history professor at United Arab Emirates University, said Arab governments have had to back away from their initial stance as Hezbollah showed resilience and won support from the public.

Many around the Arab world seem to have put aside Shiite-Sunni animosities to concentrate on Israel.

"Oh Sunni! Oh Shiite! Let's fight the Jews!" a crowd chanted outside Cairo's Istiqama Mosque on Friday. "The Jews and the Americans are killing our brothers in Lebanon."

The protesters carried photos of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah alongside those of Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose Arab nationalist policies helped lead to the 1967 Mideast War.

Al-Ansari suggested the shift could be a response to what many believe has been a disproportionate Israeli reaction to Hezbollah.

"The Arab governments, they look at it from a rational point of view _ they know it's going to be a big mess at their doors and they have to deal with it," he said. "From the beginning they made their positions clear (but) nobody was expecting the reaction by the Israelis this way."

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Shafika Matter, in Amman, Jordan, and Omar Sinan and Maggie Michael in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.