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When 30,000 UN troops and Lebanese army soldiers were deployed across southern Lebanon at the end of last year's Israel-Hizbullah war, Hizbullah's presence shrank in the villages and hills facing the Israeli border and its influence seemed likely to diminish as well. But more than a year later, the Lebanese guerilla group appears to be again solidly entrenched across the country's south - looking, in fact, as if its fighters never really left but merely went underground. The Shiite Muslim militia's banners hang everywhere, boasting of the "divine victory" over Israel and thanking its chief sponsor, Shiite-majority Iran, for helping with post-war reconstruction. Judging from villagers' reports, the militia's recruitment of young men is booming and its popularity is firm.A few things are different. Hilltop posts near Israel once held by Hizbullah are now in control of the Lebanese army. And the UN peacekeepers are helping the army to establish its authority and maintain a buffer zone between the Litani River and the border - from 3 miles to 18 miles at various points - that's supposedly free of Hizbullah fighters.But in general, Hizbullah appears to be in a strong position north and south of the Litani, both in its political wing and as a militia. And the group - whose name means Party of God - says it is ready to fight again should Israel attack.It's unclear how much Hizbullah, which is labeled a terrorist group by the United States but not by the European Union, has been able to beef up its missiles pointed toward Israel and other weaponry. Israel has complained arms have been smuggled from Syria, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Syria and Iran to cooperate with Lebanese authorities to prevent weapons shipments into the country.Villagers across the south point to various places they say are arms depots for Hizbullah, but it was not possible to verify their statements.In the village of Barflay, about 10 miles north of the border, a middle-aged woman pointed to a low building nestled in trees and brush and announced, "That one there is the party's warehouse for weapons." The woman asked that her name not be used for her safety, and it seemed unwise to go near to the building.Hizbullah boasts that it is both everywhere and nowhere, meaning it's hard to tell who's a civilian and who's a fighter."Hizbullah is not from Mars, they're the people of this land," said Hussein Ayoub, a 40-year-old Shiite in the nearby village of Selaa. Ayoub said he lost six cousins last year when Israeli planes bombed two houses in Selaa."They are among us, even if we don't see them," interjected his uncle, Ahmed Ayoub."That guy over there may be a Hizbullah, or that one," he said, pointing to his son, who's really a policeman, not a militiaman.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
