One year after war, Hezbollah regains strength

Militant warns of 'big surprise'
The chance of another war haunts the south.

On the anniversary of the end of last year’s war, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned of a “big surprise” should Israel attack again. Many took that to mean the militia had gotten a new delivery of anti-aircraft missiles.

The talk of Hezbollah recruitment and training also indicates the militia is preparing for another conflict, with both ordinary people and Hezbollah supporters saying the fighting will be initiated by Israel, not the Lebanese militiamen.

The last war began on July 12, 2006, after Hezbollah fighters crossed into Israel, killing three soldiers and seizing two others. Israel then invaded southern Lebanon and bombarded the country. More than 1,000 Lebanese — mostly civilians— were killed; 158 Israelis, 119 of them soldiers, also died.

Hezbollah’s yellow flags dominate southern Lebanon, as they did before the war. Posters and murals of its fallen fighters — set against a background of red tulips, a symbol of martyrdom — adorn walls and utility poles along the mountain roads.

A poster of Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei greets visitors to the main village square in Srifa, about six miles from Israel’s border. Twelve Hezbollah fighters and 17 from allied groups were killed in Israeli airstrikes, along with seven civilians.

Hezbollah member speaks out
One of the Hezbollah dead was Abbas Amin Dakroub who was hiding with about 70 relatives and neighbors in a bomb shelter near his home when Srifa was struck in the early days of the war.

Dakroub’s cousin, Hassan Ahmed, 23 — whose job is helping organize Hezbollah rallies — survived.

“I’m with the resistance,” he announced proudly. “I was in the same bomb shelter. It was the highest death toll of fighters in one attack.”

He said none of the young Hezbollah men in Srifa fought last year because Israel only attacked with bombs and artillery, never sending ground forces into his town.

“I was here, but not as a fighter,” Ahmed said, speaking with a tinge of regret.

In Marwaheen, a Sunni Muslim village along the border, a huge banner with the message “Death to Israel” covers the front of a two-story house belonging to the Abbas family.

Twenty-three from the village were killed by an Israeli missile as they tried to flee in a pickup truck on July 15 after the Israelis warned villagers through loudspeakers to evacuate or face shelling.

Villagers blame Israel for violence
Marwaheen, one of six Sunni villages along the border, sits on a mountain ridge, divided from Israel by a green valley. A military post on a nearby hill signals who is in charge of this embattled region. It was an Israeli position during Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon, then Hezbollah held it, and today it’s controlled by the Lebanese army.

Although Marwaheen is now protected by the army, some Sunni villagers still speak of Hezbollah with admiration.

“Hezbollah is a resistance movement, while Israel is the occupier and aggressor,” said Hussein Ghannam, 58. Still, he said he favored a peace treaty with Israel provided it was not “tantamount to submission” but respected everyone’s rights.

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