CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak has suggested that his detractors have lost their nerve, and asked God to calm them, in the latest verbal jab at Damascus over the Arab stance on the conflict in Lebanon. I hold my nerve and I am unflappable in the face of provocation. May God calm those who have lost their nerve, Mubarak said in an interview to be published by the top-selling Al-Ahram Weekly. No one can start questioning the Arabness of Egypt or its commitment on the issues that involve the Arab nation, he added. The interview, excerpts of which were carried by the official MENA news agency, was a thinly veiled answer to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who has voiced criticism of Egypt over its position on the month-long conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah. Assad said the war between Hezbollah and Israel has exposed the Arab situation entirely … because it has downed the people of half positions, or the half-men. Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhuriya returned the half-man accusation accusation on Wednesday, charging that the young Assad had no military legitimacy and blaming the Syrian regime for massacres in Lebanon and on its own soil. Syria has expressed unequivocal support for Hezbollah, praising its victory after the month of fighting that started when the militia killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two in a July 12 border attack. Egypt, a top U.S. ally in the region and one of only two Arab countries to have a peace treaty with the Jewish state, adopted a more moderate stance, criticizing Hezbollah s adventurism as threatening regional stability. AFP
Mubarak takes fresh swipe at Syria over Lebanon
