After the war, Hizbullah reevaluates

Although it was suspected that Hizbullah was building defensive fortifications, neither UN peacekeepers nor the Israeli military had any idea as to its scale. When Israeli troops discovered and dynamited the bunker days after the cease-fire, they found a structure consisting of firing positions, operations rooms, medical facilities, lighting and ventilation systems, kitchens and bathrooms with hot water – sufficient for dozens of fighters to live underground for weeks.

The bunker was built within view of a UN observation post and an Israeli military position, respectively 100 yards and 300 yards away. Neither the UN nor the Israeli army knew the bunker existed. "We never saw them build anything. They must have brought the cement in by the spoonful," says a UN officer.

The bunker at Labboune was only one of several similar fortifications strung along the border. Hizbullah also constructed permanent Katyusha rocket-firing positions. Abu Mehdi, a Hizbullah fighter who refuses to give his real name, says a colleague was taken to a mountaintop and told that he was in charge of a Katyusha launcher. "My friend looked around him and asked, 'Where is it?' The other man pressed a button and the launcher rose out of the ground next to him," he says.

The UN force in south Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, is being rapidly expanded, more than doubling since the cease-fire to more than 5,000 by the end of last week. Domestic political constraints will further hamper Hizbullah's ability to resume for now even its occasional assaults in the Shebaa Farms. Still, Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's leader, rejects dismantling the military wing and boasts that it possesses more than 20,000 rockets.

"There is no army in the world that can [force us] to drop our weapons from our hands," he said at a rally in south Beirut Friday, his first public appearance since the war began.

One possibility, analysts say, is to link Hizbullah's military wing more closely to the Lebanese Army, now deployed in strength in south Lebanon.

"If Israel violates the cease-fire and Hizbullah helps the Lebanese Army's legitimate response to that violation, I think it would be very hard for UNIFIL to intervene," says Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Lebanese expert on Hizbullah.

One example, apparently under serious consideration by Hizbullah, is how to retaliate against Israel's violations of Lebanese airspace. UNIFIL has recorded more than three dozen violations by Israeli aircraft since the cease-fire came into effect. "We have reported them to the UN Security Council. What more can we do? Shoot them down?" says UNIFIL spokesman Alex Ivanko.

But Hizbullah might attempt to do just that. "We were unable to make good use of our anti-aircraft capabilities during the war. This is something we are looking into for the future," says Abu Mehdi. "The resistance is planning a new strategy."

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