Arab and Lebanese officials have been holding quiet contacts with Cairo in order to prevent the inclusion of Hizbullah's leader in the case of an alleged Hizbullah terrorist cell in Egypt, the suspects' lawyers was quoted as saying.

A few weeks ago, the Egyptian authorities have declared they had detained a Hizbullah cell on charges of plotting attacks in the country. "Clearly there is an atmosphere of calm. This is obvious by the appeasing tone being adopted by national newspapers toward Hizbullah," lawyer Khaled Ali told the Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awsat in remarks published Sunday.

According to him, it was still unclear whether the prosecution will include the name of Hassan Nasrallah among the accused or whether the list will be limited to those arrested so far by Egyptain security forces.

Meanwhile, an official in Egypt's foreign ministry dismissed reports of mediation efforts over the case, the paper said.

© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)