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| Border: Peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) installed fencing last week along the southern
Lebanese border with Israel. Lutfallah Daher/AP |
Hizbullah militants regroup amid war jitters
The Lebanese Shiite group is recruiting Sunnis, training in Iran for a possible second war with Israel.
By Nicholas Blanford | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the April 14, 2008 edition
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Reporter Nicholas Blanford talks about his reporting on Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Kfar Shuba, Lebanon - In south Lebanon, where the 2006 summertime war between Israel and militant Shiite Hizbullah was played out, villages are abuzz with talk of another devastating conflict between the two archfoes.
Over the past few weeks, military activity on both sides of the border has contributed to war jitters as both Israel and Hizbullah are seemingly poised to strike.
The Israeli military just wrapped up a nationwide war drill it dubbed "Turning Point 2," and Hizbullah appears to have devised new battle plans that include cross-border raids into Israel and has mounted a sweeping recruitment and training drive, even marshaling non-Shiites and former Israeli-allied militiamen into new reservist units.
"The holy fighters are completely focused on the next war, even ignoring families and friends. They are just waiting for the next war," says Jawad, a Hizbullah fighter.
Still, many diplomats and analysts in Beirut say that neither side has an interest in coming to blows again, despite the buildup.
"The elements of conflict are still there, and it is possible that something small can get out of hand with neither side wanting it," says Timur Goksel, a university lecturer in Beirut and veteran observer of the Hizbullah-Israeli conflict. But, he adds, the heightened activity is "mainly posturing."
Hizbullah continues to recruit and train new combatants at a furious pace. Indeed, it has noticeably increased in the past two months, ever since the assassination in Damascus of Imad Mughnieh, Hizbullah's top military commander, sparked fears of a fresh war.
Many recruits are sent to Iran for 45-day advanced training sessions, according to Hizbullah fighters. Jawad says he recently returned from Iran, his second trip in a year, where he was taught how to fire antitank missiles.
"There's a lot of training," he says. "The holy fighters are leaving universities, shops, places of work to go and train."
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