Hezbollah hits back at Egypt

Hezbollah has brushed aside the accusations recently made by Egypt, saying Cairo is seeking to damage the movement's reputation. The movement's deputy leader Sheikh Naeem Qassem said on Wednesday that Egypt's allegations that Hezbollah is seeking to destabilize the country are totally unfounded and baseless. "This whole thing is politically motivated and will result in a backlash against the Egyptian regime," he added. The Hezbollah official said, "The Egyptian regime wants revenge and is seeking to sully Hezbollah's image", but "It has become clear to everyone that these accusations are fabricated ... and that they are worthless." Egypt's anti-Hezbollah campaign began after Hezbollah criticized Cairo for its performance during the 22-day Israeli war in the Gaza Strip. Egypt kept the Rafah border-crossing -- Gaza's only border that bypasses Israel -- closed during the war which killed at least 1,350 Palestinians and claimed that it was bound to close the crossing under an agreement with Tel Aviv. Last week, Cairo announced that it had arrested a group linked to Hezbollah on charges of plotting attacks in the country. Hezbollah denied the allegations immediately. In an article published last week by the Qatari-based daily Ash-Sharq, a prominent Egyptian political analyst accused Cairo of conspiring against the Lebanese movement. Fahmi Huwaidi said the reports circulated against Hezbollah were so 'contradictory' that one could easily rule them out as 'unfounded'. This is while Egypt continues its rhetoric against Hezbollah and has threatened the movement to pay a "heavy price" for "plotting attacks" in the country.