"We do not recognize any northern Israel. It is occupied northern Palestine," Nasrallah is quoted as saying. "There will be no peace or reconciliation as long as Palestine is occupied by the Zionist enemy."
The events of the last few months prompted the Israeli military to reexamine its position, but it has determined that the current war of attrition with Hezbollah is the only viable option in Lebanon.
"There is no way of winning this war. The purpose is to give the northern Galilee the freedom to live a normal life," Lubrani said. Given the options of intensified warfare or a unilateral withdrawal, he added, "as costly as the present deployment is, it is the best route."
The two sides are continuing the cat-and-mouse game in the craggy hills and steep wadis of southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah using mobile phones to coordinate attacks and roadside bombs camouflaged as rocks to ambush the Israelis. Israel appears to be searching for new responses, while relying on stepped-up air attacks to keep Hezbollah and its supporters on the run.
Hezbollah keeps Lebanese apprised of the military situation on its television station or on the Web site that opened early this year and quickly became a front of "cyber-warfare." In March, Hezbollah television reported that Israel was sending tens of thousands of messages to Hezbollah's mailbox to try to shut down the system. Israel responded that Hezbollah had sent a computer virus in return.
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By most accounts, Hezbollah has a military force of 3,000 to 5,000 fighters, about 10% of them full time. The rest live with their families in the towns and villages north of the occupied zone, work and join in combat when needed. That may mean running out to the edge of town to launch a rocket and disappearing before Israeli troops can pinpoint them.
Israel's ability to respond to such attacks has been restricted by the "April understandings," negotiated at the end of the 16-day Grapes of Wrath offensive in April 1996, which left 150 Lebanese dead, most of them civilians.
Under the accord, designed to prevent civilian casualties in the conflict, Hezbollah is not supposed to fire rockets into northern Israel, and Israel is not supposed to hit civilians in Lebanon.
The accord breaks down on occasion, on both sides. When Lebanon is the target, Hezbollah is there to help--with its public works, health and social service programs. "Together we resist, together we build," is the motto on Jihad Construction's full-color, English-language brochure with before and after photographs of houses destroyed in Grapes of Wrath and rebuilt by Hezbollah.
