ors to that point. But to the Saudis, not to mention Bahrain's ruling family, even the occasional appearance of posters of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah amid crowds of Shiite protesters pumping their fists and chanting demands for regime change was too much. They saw how Iran's influence has grown in

nd then avoided defeat in a subsequent round of fighting in 2006. In a poll of Arab public opinion taken in 2008, the three most popular leaders were Hassan Nasrallah, Bashar al-Assad and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, in that order. But this sense of inexorable ascendancy in which the Iran-led bloc liked to cloak itself has

leadership to immediately stop using force against its people or the G-8 countries would "consider taking further measures". At the same time, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah—the leader of the Lebanese party Hizbullah-called on the Syrian people to give the government time to effectuate reforms, arguing that President Assa