In Southern Lebanon, Untroubled Fighters Display Their Determination to Resist

By Cécile Hennion Le Monde
Monday 07 August 2006

In the face of the stink coming off the corpses, Sheikh Ahmed is the only one not to protect his face with a surgical mask. Wearing lightly tinted spectacles and a white turban, this Hezbollah leader in southern Lebanon imperturbably observes the now habitual disorder reigning in front of the Tyre government hospital.

In the face of this spectacle of desolation, the man displays his serenity. "The resistance is doing well," he declares. "Israel's murderous action has contributed to bring the people and Hezbollah closer together. Not only in Lebanon, but also in all the Arab and Muslim countries, every day more numerous in their demonstrations of support."

The mention of Tehran and Damascus's active patronage of the Shiite organization causes him to lift an eyebrow. "What does this Western obsession over Iran and Syria's support for Hezbollah mean? Do their media also go to the trouble of specifying that Israel is supported by the United States and Europe?"

"My answer about Iran and Syria's role," Sheikh Ahmed adds, "is summarized by Condoleezza Rice's speech. She keeps calling for a 'Greater Middle East.' Well then, here it is! Confronted with the American-Zionist plan for the systematic destruction of Lebanon, the 'Greater Middle East' is reacting in chorus to defend its rights. Hezbollah's objective has never changed. Since its creation, its role has been to fight against Israeli occupation and aggression in Lebanon. We represent the resistance of all Lebanese. Syria and Iran take our country's fate to heart. That's normal."

"If, according to the Americans, that is terrorism, if all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists," he adds ironically, "well, then, we proudly declare ourselves to be a terrorist organization."

The Israeli offensive's death toll - over 1,000 deaths according to official figures - has spread hatred of Israelis among even those Lebanese least inclined to support the Shiite Party of God. From that perspective, no one doubts that Hezbollah could enjoy the benefit of relief battalions should that be necessary.

Aadel, a young man displaced from the south whom I met in Saida, explained that he is "a communist and an atheist to the nth degree." "I already offered my help to Hezbollah," he assured me. "They thanked me and said it wasn't necessary right now. Whenever they want me to, I'll fight … Hezbollah is the only armed group never to have turned its weapons against other Lebanese communities. Today, it represents our strongest military asset against the enemy. It's logical to support them," he concludes.

On a road not far from Tyre, Hussein, a Hezbollah fighter, transports long metal cylinders in the back of his hatchback. They will contain explosive charges that will be buried and later blow up IDF tanks via a simple remote-control pressure. After he explains these details, he says it will be impossible to photograph the little arsenal. "We don't mind journalists," Hussein explains, "but we don't trust pictures. Southern Lebanon is infiltrated with spies, and we've had several bad experiences in the past. Our strength consists in preserving military secrecy."

"Hezbollah doesn't warn anybody and doesn't report to anybody," confirms Hajj Rifaat, Fatah official in the Palestinian camp of Rachidiye, close to Tyre. "Only Hamas, present in some Palestinian camps in the South, actively participates in operations. If the Palestinian fedayyeen had adopted the same tactic thirty years ago, maybe we wouldn't have lost so quickly. But what we understand today seems to have escaped the Israeli strategists. Look at the result!"

With respect to military defeats and victories, it's difficult to trust the contradictory declarations of each side. From his base in Naqoura, in the extreme south of Lebanon, the liaison officer to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), French colonel Jacques Colleville, is one of the best experts regarding the situation on the ground. "Everyone has been surprised by Hezbollah's degree of preparation," he acknowledges, "as well as by the degree of Israel's lack of awareness."

"UNIFIL estimates that Hezbollah had 16,000 rockets at the outbreak of the war. Their weapons and munitions capacity has remained three quarters intact," deems Colonel Colleville. "Their fortified underground networks are very effective. Pockets of resistance have resurfaced in the areas Israel thought it controlled … After several weeks of strikes as powerful and intense as those around the Bint Jbeil stronghold, we've seen Hezbollah fighters come out of their holes, as fresh as on the first days of fighting. There are no European style land battles here."

According to Colonel Colleville, "It's all about urban guerrilla warfare, which is not necessarily in favor of the attacker and against which bombardment is not very effective. The mobilization of Israeli Reserve soldiers doesn't change anything in the overall situation. On the ground, it is very difficult to imagine an end to the fighting."
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Translation: t r u t h o u t French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher.

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