Nasrallah: Hezbollah has no plans to destabilize Egypt

The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah said his Shiite group has no intention of setting up a cell in Egypt to destabilize that predominantly Sunni Muslim country, and claimed that an alleged fierce Egyptian campaign against the group has failed to discredit it in the Arab world.

The remarks by Hassan Nasrallah came in the wake of Egypt's announcement last month that it had uncovered a plot by 49 men linked to Hezbollah to destabilize the country by carrying out attacks on Egyptian institutions and Israeli tourists.

Nasrallah at the time rejected the accusations but admitted a Hezbollah member was in Egypt supervising weapons shipments to Hezbollah's ally, the militant Palestinian group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip.

Egypt was wasting money and efforts in trying to vilify Hezbollah, Nasrallah said in a televised speech Friday night, again rejecting accusations of Hezbollah plots against Egypt.

"We didn't set up a cell in Egypt and we don't intend to set up a cell in Egypt," he said. "We are not seeking to target Egypt, its security, its regime or its stability."

Egypt's "wide-scale political, propaganda and media campaign" has failed to "distort Hezbollah's image," Nasrallah said, but added that Hezbollah would not engage in any sort of counter-campaign against Egypt in order to allow for Arab and Lebanese mediators to work to end the dispute.

Nasrallah said several Arab and Lebanese leaders called for "dealing with this crisis in a calm and rational manner" - a reference to a recent statement by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman that he was using quiet diplomacy to try to resolve the Egypt-Hezbollah dispute.

Nasrallah stressed the Egyptian campaign also would not harm Hezbollah ahead of the June 7 parliament elections.

The United States and its allies among Arab nations such as Egypt are concerned that a Hezbollah electoral win could increase the sway of the group's backers Iran and Syria in the region.

Nasrallah's comments came two days after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned regional adversaries - a reference to Iran and the Hezbollah group it supports - that he would not tolerate what he called tampering with his country's security and stability.

Egypt and other Arab nations have watched with concern as Iran has deepened its regional influence through its support for Hezbollah and its development of nuclear technology.