For most Lebanese, adds political scientist Adnan Iskandar, Hezbollah has "succeeded in becoming a resistance movement and not a terrorist group."
Israel has lost 39 soldiers in the battle against Hezbollah this year, more than in any other year since withdrawing from Beirut and occupying the 440-square-mile self-declared "security zone" in 1985. And 73 Israeli soldiers died in February when two military helicopters collided in midair on the way to southern Lebanon.
With the casualties, Hezbollah has dealt major psychological blows to Israel. In September, Hezbollah guerrillas hit one of Israel's revered elite units, a naval commando force trying to carry out an operation north of the occupied zone under cover of darkness. Twelve of the 13 Israelis on the mission in Insariyeh died--the highest Israeli toll for any single clash in southern Lebanon.
In early October, a Hezbollah patrol made its way deep inside the Israeli-occupied zone to fire on troops from a house just 300 yards from the border of Israel. Two soldiers were killed, and the guerrillas escaped "unnoticed" by civilians in the area. The operation revealed serious intelligence-gathering problems for Israel.
Later that month, a guerrilla missile pierced one of Israel's famed Merkava tanks--considered one of the safest tanks in the world--and killed the driver. It was the third time in two months that specially trained Hezbollah units had hit the tanks with rocket fire. Israel declared that this was proof the guerrillas had obtained sophisticated antitank weapons from Iran; Hezbollah denied this and claimed, instead, to have detailed blueprints of the Merkava, allowing the militants to discover its weak points.
Even Israel's successes have backfired of late. An operation in August that left five guerrillas dead and lifted Israeli morale was quickly overshadowed by the loss of four soldiers who burned to death in a brush fire set by Israel's own mortars.
During a nighttime ambush in September, Israeli forces killed four Hezbollah guerrillas, including Nasrallah's 18-year-old son Hadi, whose fatigue-clad body was captured. Israel celebrated the hit, but Nasrallah turned the loss to his political advantage.
Impressed by the fact that the sheik had put his eldest son's life on the line for the country, leaders of all sectors of Lebanese society paid their condolences to Nasrallah and offered their support. Nasrallah decided to mobilize this broad-based support and so kicked off the drive to recruit non-Muslims.
