BEIRUT — As Lebanon's largest political party and most potent armed force, Hezbollah has long been described as a "state within a state" -- a Shiite Muslim minigovernment boasting close ties to Iran and Syria.
But Wednesday's move across the border to capture two Israeli soldiers went a step further: Hezbollah acted as the state itself, threatening to drag Lebanon into a war.
The country's elected government was still in meetings Wednesday, arguing over what to say in public, when Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah went before television cameras with a pointed threat for the ruling elite.
"Today is a time for solidarity and cooperation, and we can have discussions later. I warn you against committing any error. This is a national responsibility," the cleric said, looking every inch the head of state.
Any criticism over the capture of the two Israeli soldiers would be tantamount to colluding with Israel, Nasrallah said, making it clear that he expected citizens and officials to heed his orders.
"To the Lebanese people, both officials and non-officials, nobody should behave in a way that encourages the enemy to attack Lebanon, and nobody should say anything that gives cover to attack Lebanon," he said.
Nasrallah was careful to frame the raid -- which occurred less than three weeks after Palestinian militant groups, including the Hamas military wing, captured an Israeli soldier in a similar cross-border attack just outside the Gaza Strip -- as a noble strike on behalf of Lebanon and Arab nationalism. Its goal was to free Lebanese and other Arab prisoners, many of them Palestinian, held in Israel by forcing Israel into a prisoner swap, he said.
Nasrallah was unclear on how many prisoners he was demanding be released.
Since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah has generally limited its attacks on Israelis to one small patch of disputed land known as Shabaa Farms, which Hezbollah claims as Lebanese territory.
But Hezbollah had long planned the audacious change to a cross-border raid aimed at capturing Israeli soldiers. The group failed in a similar operation late last year.
"It's a very dangerous escalation," said Timur Goksel, a former United Nations spokesman and advisor who teaches at the American University of Beirut. "You can't anymore claim it's an act of resistance. It's an act of war."
