“Hezbollah is not waging the battle of Hezbollah or of Lebanon. We are waging the battle of the [Islamic] nation, whether we like it or not, whether the Lebanese like or not.”

— Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Al-Manar TV, July 16

In the aftermath of Hezbollah’s attack on Israel, it appears Arab regimes are dividing into two camps. On one side are those standing with Hezbollah and Iran, such as Syria and Yemen (and the Lebanese ambassador to America, who was removed from his position last week), and on the other side is almost everyone else. The latter group clearly recognizes that chaos could engulf the entire region as Hezbollah attempts to push Lebanon to commit “martyrdom.”

The Arab League has called Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel “unexpected, inappropriate, and irresponsible acts,” in the words of Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal. Also, President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan, without directly naming Hezbollah, warned last week of “the region being dragged into ‘adventurism’ that does not serve Arab interests.”

Saudi Arabia also issued a statement on July 13 that was critical of Hezbollah’s actions: “The Kingdom stood firmly with the resistance in Lebanon until Israel’s occupation of Lebanon ended. … A difference should be drawn between legitimate resistance and rash adventures carried out by elements inside the state and those behind them without consultation or coordination with Arab countries. … The Kingdom views that it is time that these elements alone bear the full responsibility of these irresponsible acts and should alone shoulder the burden of ending the crisis they have created.”

A prominent Lebanese Druze member of parliament, Walid Jumblatt, also criticized Hezbollah in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro on July 13: “Hezbollah played a very dangerous game by kidnapping these two soldiers. … Israel has withdrawn from Lebanon. These kidnappings took place outside our country’s borders. Hezbollah is raising the stakes, with the support of Iran and Syria, which in the past year has become a satellite state of Tehran. … Hezbollah will have to explain itself to the Lebanese. … [We need to decide] who makes the decisions regarding war and peace in this country.”

The Arab press also has been highly critical of Hezbollah.The editor in chief of the Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah, Ahmed Jarallah, has written a number of editorials on the subject. On July 15, he wrote that Israel’s operations against Hezbollah are in the interest of the world: “People of Arab countries, especially the Lebanese and Palestinians, have been held hostage for a long time in the name of ‘resisting Israel.’ … Unfortunately, we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid of ‘these irregular phenomena’ is what Israel is doing. The operations of Israel in …Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community.”

In an editorial the next day, Mr. Jarallah wrote: “Nasrallah has done some grave miscalculations under instructions from the outside. Nasrallah has dragged Lebanon and its people into misfortune. In spite of the destruction caused by Israel, Lebanese politicians don’t want to be frank with their people and tell them that they should not support Nasrallah’s decision to declare war on Israel. Nasrallah has hijacked the authority of the Lebanese government to have control over the people of Lebanon while Lebanese politicians continue to remain mute spectators without voicing their true feelings. … The fate of the Lebanese is in the hands of a handful of reckless adventurers, who have prevented Arabs from making well-judged decisions. … Iran and Syria are fighting the international community, especially the United States, in Lebanon and Palestine. Nobody is benefiting from this conflict, except Tehran and Damascus.”

Many other members of the Arab press have been speaking out against Hezbollah. They all seem to recognize that Hezbollah’s actions could potentially destroy Lebanon and cause an enormous amount of damage to the entire region.

Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.