TEHRAN, Apr. 20 (MNA) - The Tehran-based secretariat of the International Conference in Support of Palestine has released a statement expressing strong support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the face of accusations by the Egyptian ruling establishment.

Egyptian state security claimed that Hezbollah had recruited a 49-member cell with the aim of making military strikes inside Egypt.

 

Many pundits believe that Egyptian officials have had a vendetta against Hezbollah ever since last December, when its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Egyptians to protest and force their government to open the border as Israel was mercilessly attacking Gaza.

 

Egypt is the only Arab country that borders the Gaza Strip.

 

“Today we are witnessing the antagonistic measure of the puppet regime of Egypt” against Hezbollah leader and the resistance forces, the statement said.

 

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem told AFP news agency last week that Cairo's claims are "fabricated" to "sully Hezbollah's image".

 

The statement by the Palestinian support group added the “unscrupulous position” toward Hezbollah and its leader come at a time that people across the world, particularly those in the “Islamic and Arab worlds” are pinning their hopes on the resistance movements for the “liberation of Palestine and all the occupied territories”.

 

In December, Israel began a three-week offensive in Gaza with the stated aim of breaking up the resistance movement in the Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli army failed to achieve its goal despite intensive attacks on the small territory from the air, land and sea.

 

The statement said the Egyptian rulers have resorted to “such manipulations” since they failed to cover up the “military defeat inflicted on their Zionist masters in the 22-day” war on Gaza.

 

The Arab public opinion is angry of Egypt for its refusal to open its border with the Gaza Strip to allow medical aid into the territory or even allow civilians to flee the war.

 

The secretariat of the support group has also hailed efforts by the Egyptian people to send humanitarian aid to “the defenseless people of Palestine, particularly for the besieged people in the Gaza Strip” and condemned “disgraceful” attempts by the Egyptian rulers to block the transfer of aid to the war-ravaged Gaza.

 

PA/PA

END

MNA