Hezbollah's gains in Lebanon part of a regional process, next Jordan and Egypt

Ramallah (West Bank), May 12 : Hezbollah's gains in Lebanon last week are part of a regional process that began last year in the Gaza Strip and will continue in Jordan and Egypt, a Hamas official has said.

Sheik Yazeeb Khader, a Ramallah-based Hamas political activist and editor, said militant groups across the Middle East are gaining power at the expense of US-backed regimes, just as Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to US-backed Palestinian Authority.

"What happened in Gaza in 2007 is an achievement; now it is happening in 2008 in Lebanon. It's going to happen in 2009 in Jordan and it's going to happen in 2010 in Egypt," Sheik Khader said in an interview to The Washington Times.

"We are seeing a redrawing of the map of the Middle East where the forces of resistance and steadfastness are the ones moving the things on the ground."

His remarks highlight how a growing alliance linking the Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah straddles the Shi'ite-Sunni rift.

The notion of new countries falling under Islamist influence reflects a goal of Hamas' parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood, of replacing secular Arab regimes with Islamist governments, the paper reported.

The fighting of the past few days has brought Lebanon closer to armed internal conflict than at any other time since the end of its 15-year civil war in 1990.

ANI