TIDE OF ARAB OPINION SWINGS TO HEZBOLLAH

Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hizballah - Neil MacFarquhar (New York Times)
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.

Arab rulers stay out of fray asShi'ites and Zionists battle it out By Uriel Heilman
JERUSALEM, July 27 (JTA) -- For Arab rulers watching from the sidelines as Hezbollah and Israel battle in Lebanon, this war is proving something of a problem.

The last thing the autocrats in Egypt, Jordan and the Persian Gulf states want to see is a victory by an Iranian-sponsored Shi'ite militia. That would strengthen the hand of the mullahs running Iran and further empower radical Islamists and Shi'ite minorities in their own countries who are eager for supremacy.

Yet public opinion at home doesn't allow for much support of the Israeli position, especially as images of Lebanese victims and Israeli bombings flood Arab airwaves.

That’s why Arab leaders, from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, are treading a cautious line, shifting from blaming Hezbollah to criticizing Israel.

As the conflict has dragged on and Hezbollah has proven a formidable adversary, initial censure of Hezbollah for provoking the conflict has given way to warning that Israel’s “aggressiveness” risks destabilizing the region and igniting an all-out war.

For all their talk, however, most Arab states are being careful to stay out of the fray — and likely will stay out.