The elected government has been gravely weakened by this war, and Hizb'Allah is positioning themselves to gain greater power. They may do this with the aid of Diebold-style electioneering, outside actors (Syria and Iran) or by the point of a gun. In the worst case, the Christians may once again feel so unwelcome that they flee the nation. The Sunnis aren't uniformly thrilled by Hizb'Allah's actions either. The myth of Lebanese unity with regard to Hizb'Allah is just that, a myth--the only thing the various factions agree on is that they don't like Israel:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/world/middleeast/25sunnis.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fF%2fFattah%2c%20Hassan%20M%2e&oref=slogin
At Funeral, a Sunni Village Condemns Hezbollah’s Presence
...“We kept beseeching them, ‘Stay out! Stay out!’ ” said Zainab Ali Abdullah, 19, who lost her father, brother and several other members of the family in the attack. “They said, ‘We’re all in the same boat together, so deal with it.’ But why should our children die for their cause?”...For many, the gathering on Thursday also became a chance to air grievances against Hezbollah, whom they blame for having brought trouble to their quiet community.
Criticism of Hezbollah is rare in southern Lebanon, where the group exercises significant influence and economic power. Villages like Marwaheen — which largely supports the Future Movement of Saad Hariri, son of the assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri — often miss out on Hezbollah’s largess but pay the price for its politics.
“There is no way for us to stop them,” said Ibrahim, who lost several relatives in the attack and who asked that his last name not be used for fear of retribution. “These are not people you can say no to.”...The town’s troubles began sometime last year when a local resident who had converted to Shiism was appointed the local representative of Hezbollah, residents said. Soon strange things began to occur: strangers came through for late-night meetings; trucks would come and go in the middle of the night; and a suspicious-looking white van was parked at each end of the village.
When the war broke out, rockets flew out of the village and a hilltop nearby, and the fears of many residents that trouble would come grew stronger.
On Thursday, one of the suspicious white vans was sitting next to the town mosque. The van had apparently been hit by an Israeli missile, but the launching platform for a Katyusha rocket could still be seen inside. A rocket that lay next to the van a few days earlier had been removed.
Residents said Hezbollah was using them as human shields. “One man in this village was able to turn all our lives upside down for just a bit of money,” Ibrahim said. When the villagers left, he said, the fighters did too, as evidenced by the limited damage done to the town.
“We want the army and the United Nations to come in here and protect us,” he said. “Israel is our enemy, but the problem is that Hezbollah gave them an excuse to come in and kill our children.”
....
Hezbollah has few fans among bitter ChristiansPlastic sheeting flaps over a hole where a bomb ripped the side of the house in the Christian village of Ain Ibl in southern Lebanon. Only the mattress springs remain of a charred room where three of his younger brothers used to sleep.
"We are Christians. We did not not belong to any party," said Mr Andruous, 31, a video technician and father of two, whose younger brother, Rany, 21, is studying in Sydney. "What if we rebuild this house and they make war again? How can I live with my children here?" he said.....Although many Shiite Muslims support Hezbollah, members of other communities caught in the crossfire of this war do not.
"How can it be a victory when most of
has been destroyed?" asked Elias Hasrouni, a Maronite Christian, who manages the local electricity company. "There's no work, many people left, many people died, the houses were damaged. Is this a victory?"
Ain Ibl is next to the flattened village of Bint Jbeil, where there was heavy fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. Imad Khoury, 38, the head of the local council, said the town is surrounded by Hezbollah missile batteries.
Hezbollah is dispensing up to $US12,000 ($16,000) to people who have lost property in the war, but Mr Hasrouni says he will not accept it. "We don't want to be indebted to Hezbollah," he said.
Residents who fled the town during the war returned to find bloodstains on their couches, or dirty handtowels where Hezbollah fighters had used their toilets, Mr Hasrouni said, adding that although many locals did not support this war, they could not stop it. Three years ago Hezbollah seized his olive groves for military purposes. He could do nothing.
"I do not like Hezbollah," said Mr Hasrouni, who still is afraid to visit his groves.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hezbollah-has-few-fans-among-bitter-christians/2006/08/22/1156012541229.html
New analysis: Lebanon's fragile unity cracks....In particular, differences over the militant Shiite group -- stilled while the war raged -- are re-emerging. Critics of the guerrillas and their leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, have begun to speak out, with some Sunnis, Christians and Druse clearly feeling Hezbollah dragged them into a fight they did not want.
So far, it's all rhetoric and factional leaders have been careful not to actively inflame tensions, stressing instead the need to rally behind the government even as they criticize each other. ...the newspaper As-Safir, which has an Arab nationalist agenda, warned that Lebanese divisions could cause an explosion. "The country seems on the edge of a political volcano," it said on the front page.
Tension has most noticeably filtered into the reconstruction effort, with complaints from Shiites that the government was slow in acting. By contrast, Hezbollah was swift and bold in its show of aid.
Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, a key figure in the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority and a critic of the pro-Iranian and pro-Syrian Hezbollah, has been among the outspoken.
"Is this (Hezbollah) resistance Lebanese or is it a tool of the Syrian-Iranian axis on Lebanese territory?" he asked Thursday.
"We have the right -- and it is not treason to say it -- that we are Lebanese who look forward to a secure future without war of others on our land," Jumblatt added.
Hezbollah's support among the Shiite community -- believed to be Lebanon's largest sect -- remains strong, buttressed by the guerrillas' efficient drive to rebuild and help those who lost their homes by handing out cash.
Hezbollah's image as defender of the country also remains untarnished, even boosted, despite Israel's destruction of many Shiite villages.
Yet the group has not taken the new criticism lightly. Al-Manar TV, the mouthpiece of the guerrilla group throughout the war, broadcast an unprecedented attack on opponents, accusing them of "backstabbing."
"Why is this turning against the victory and completing the aggression? Is it because Hezbollah, the resistance and Lebanon has emerged victorious?" said the TV's commentary.
The anti-Syrian majority in parliament has been demanding that Hezbollah give up its weapons, but Nasrallah has said that is out of line and out of touch. ....
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=14af330c-8d06-4fee-9c1f-b9ef2635822d&k=75546 Lebanon’s new war to avoid a ”state within state”...Refugees who had fled the south when fighting broke out came home to scenes of unimaginable destruction after returning to their villages and towns following the UN brokered truce announced last Monday. Some 1 million Lebanese in all were forced to flee their homes and become refugees during the war. Now, their anger is directed towards Israel and its American sponsor. However, there are also some voices which have begun to express anger over Hizbullah's decision to drag the country to war.
"This war destroyed our lives. Did they (Hizbullah) expect what would happen here in the south when all this mess started?" asked one southern Lebanon resident, who preferred not to be named. "We live in fear. Perhaps this truce will end tomorrow and again we will have to become refugees. We have lost our security".
Hizbullah does not want the country’s citizens to turn on it, and is fighting potential anger with promises to compensate locals with cash grants. Critics of Hizbullah, however, claim the money is coming from the group’s largest backer, Iran. Tehran is not denying the fact. "It is quite natural for Iran to participate in the country's reconstruction efforts”, said Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid-Reza Asefi. ...Furthermore, there are questions regarding Hizbullah’s ability, not to mention will, to help all of the southern region’s residents. Claims have been voiced that Hizbullah prefers, first and foremost, to help Lebanon’s needy Shiite community, which constitutes the group’s support base in the south. Such a situation will likely leave many Sunnis and Christians in desperate need of aid unless the Lebanese government takes responsibility for their rehabilitation. ...In this relation, Arab diplomats in Cairo said Arabs want to counter the flood of money coming from Iran to finance Lebanon's reconstruction needs. "This is a war over the hearts and minds of the Lebanese, which Arabs should not lose to the Iranians this time," said a senior Arab League official, according to the AP.
These comments, which were aired on the sideline of a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, reflect a new trend following the war, stressing the need to fight Iranian/Hizbullah efforts to gain control over Lebanon’s southern residents.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Lebanon/202161 It's not all "Happy Families" and Kumbayah over there with Nasrallah as the benevolent patron. And it could get worse.
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