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Relations between Egypt and Hezbollah have deteriorated, after the arrest of 49 people supposedly linked to the Lebanese group. 

Egypt announced on Wednesday that it was holding 49 men on suspicion of planning "hostile operations". They are accused of being involved in planning attacks, espionage, forging official documents, spreading Shia ideology, and preparing explosives.

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, has confirmed that one of the group's members was among those arrested. He admitted that Sami Shihab had been trying to get military equipment into Gaza.

But he denied accusations that his organisation was seeking to destabilise Egypt and called the allegations "lies".

In December, Nasrallah criticised the Egyptian government for not doing more to stop Israel's offensive in Gaza, and he called on Egyptians to protest and force their government to open the border.

Some believe the Egyptian move could be a reaction to the Hezbollah leader's statements.

Are Hezbollah's sights really set on Egypt? Was the group sent to help Palestinians in Gaza? Or is this all political brinkmanship?

Presenter Kamahl Santamaria is joined by Khalil Al-Anani, a scholar specialising in political Islam and democratisation in the Middle East, Ahmad Moussalli, an Islamic movements expert and a professor at the American University in Beirut, and Hassan Nafaa, the chairman of the political science department at Cairo University and the secretary-general of the Arab Thought Forum in Amman.

This episode of Inside Story airs from Sunday, April 12, 2009.