Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah confirmed on Friday that a man Egypt is holding on suspicion of planning attacks there is a member of the Lebanese Shiite movement but denied seeking to destabilize the country by launching attacks.
He was referring to Sami Shihab, one of 49 people being held on suspicion of belonging to Hizbullah and of calling for rebellion against Egypt's leadership. Nasrallah said "all the accusations are lies and a fabrication aimed at setting the people of Egypt against Hizbullah." According to AFP, Nasrallah said Shihab, a Lebanese citizen, was in Egypt on a "logistical mission" related to the Gaza Strip. "Our brother Sami, is a member of Hizbullah, we don’t deny this," Nasrallah announced. "He was providing logistic help to the Palestinian resistance at the Egyptian-Palestinian borders," he added, noting that this was the only right thing that actually didn't figure in the Egyptian claims. "All other charges against him are false."
"The number of brothers who cooperated with Sami is not more than 10," Nasrallah said in a televised address. The Shiite leader said they had been tasked by Hizbullah with collecting intelligence along the Egypt-Gaza border, tourist sites in the Sinai, and the Suez Canal.
"If aiding the Palestinians is a crime, then I am guilty and proud of it," Nasrallah said.
He added that the Egyptian regime should be charged and condemned for besieging Gaza, as it works day and night on destroying Gaza tunnels dug by Hamas. "The Egyptian regime should be charged and condemned for besieging Gaza," he said, noting that the mentioned regime is working day and night on destroying Gaza tunnels. "The Egyptian regime is escalating its aggression against resistance movements," Nasrallah said. However, he went on to say: "I fully reject and deny all charges that Hizbullah was intending to launch an act of aggression in Egypt or at any part of the world."
He denied the Egyptian charge of attempting to spread the Shiite way of thinking and practices calling it "baseless", adding that no single individual could do so in Egypt.
