The Washington Post
September 1, 2006 Friday
Final Edition
As Lebanon’s Troops Deploy, Hezbollah Stays Put in South;
Across the Region, Militia and Army Operate in Parallel
by Edward Cody, Washington Post Foreign Service
GHANDOURIYEH, Lebanon Aug. 31
Backed by an M113 armored personnel carrier, Lebanese soldiers
wearing flak vests and carrying M16 automatic rifles manned a
checkpoint at the little crossroads marking the entrance to Al
Ghandouriyeh.
On a decorative archway nearby, the Lebanese flag with its
distinctive green cedar flapped proudly, proclaiming restored
national authority. Just above it on the pole, however, another flag
flew: the yellow and green banner of Hezbollah, with an AK-47 assault
rifle depicted atop the word "God." The arrangement seemed to
illustrate popular sentiment in this heavily damaged village in
southern Lebanon.
Heeding the U.N. cease-fire resolution that stopped the 33-day war
between Israel and Hezbollah 2 1/2 weeks ago, the Lebanese army has
deployed across the rocky hillsides and stone villages between the
Litani River and the Israeli border. But to all appearances, the
deployment has not displaced Hezbollah, the militant Islamic movement
that Israel and the United States say must be destroyed as an armed
force if peace is to return to this tortured land.
In Al Ghandouriyeh and a number of other villages seen during a drive
through the border region, Hezbollah flags flew high and wide, often
alongside Lebanese flags. Hezbollah members staffed reconstruction
offices, held town council meetings and stood at their own
checkpoints in what seemed to be cordial coexistence with the
recently arrived army troops.
No weapons were visible except those carried by the soldiers. But
many of the young Hezbollah supporters were of fighting age and
seemed ready for another call-up if the need arose. In the agreement
that led to the army’s deployment, Hezbollah pledged that its
fighters would put away their weapons. But the Lebanese government
promised Hezbollah in return that its soldiers would not try to find
out where the arms were stored.
The deal seemed to be working Thursday in Al Ghandouriyeh, which lies
about 20 miles inland from Tyre and six miles northwest of the
Israeli border. Heavy fighting raged here in the final days of the
war as Israeli troops who had been helicoptered in encountered
unexpectedly stiff resistance from Hezbollah defenders. The men of Al
Ghandouriyeh openly displayed pride in what they had accomplished on
the battlefield and seemed to have nothing to fear from the army
troops lounging nearby.
"Do you think the Israelis are afraid of us now?" asked a middle-aged
resident. "When they came, they thought they were heading for just
more Arabs. But they found out. We are poor around here, but now we
are strong."
Before the war, Hezbollah members were notorious for secrecy, hiding
their weapons underground and concealing their association with the
organization from even their closest friends and relatives. But since
the Hezbollah militia held its own against the vaunted Israeli army
for more than a month, membership has become a point of pride, to be
flaunted with fatigues or a yellow-and-green flag.
Ali Kandouh, an emigrant to Kuwait who returned to Al Ghandouriyeh to
bury a brother killed in the fighting, said he and the rest of the
village welcome the army’s deployment, which amounts to about 50
soldiers and several armored vehicles headquartered in the heavily
damaged local schoolhouse. Hezbollah’s emergence was largely due in
the first place to the government’s absence over the last three
decades, he said.
"I’m glad the army is here," he said, drinking coffee as a group of
villagers sat nearby under Hezbollah banners. "It’s good. Now I can
sleep at night. Before they came, the Israelis could come in the
night and take someone away. But now maybe the soldiers will protect
us."
Hassan Deeb, a 17-year-old in fatigues and a T-shirt, also applauded
the army’s arrival, saying it was the duty of the government to
protect the southern border villages. "The trouble with the army," he
said, smiling, "is that they came only after the fighting stopped.
"They had to have a decision by the government to come," he added.
"All the while the war was on, there was no decision. And now that
it’s over, they get their decision and they come."
The Lebanese government has pledged to send 15,000 soldiers to the
area and to reinstate government authority after two decades during
which many of the tasks of local administration — and military
preparations — were left to Hezbollah. The United Nations Interim
Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, which has patrolled the border for 28
years, estimated that three battalions amounting to about 5,000
soldiers have arrived so far.
Jeeps with camouflage netting were seen Thursday purring down the
region’s narrow roads, pockmarked by four weeks of Israeli pummeling.
Schools, factories and bombed-out homes have been requisitioned as
temporary quarters for the thinly equipped troops. Heavy trucks
snorted up and down the hills, bringing in supplies from Beirut.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Wednesday he will send 8,000 more
soldiers to reinforce the border with Syria. The announcement
appeared designed to meet another Israeli demand — preventing
Hezbollah from replenishing its weapons stores with Iranian-supplied
arms sent through Syria.
The extent of army deployment here has been a contentious issue
between Israel and Lebanon. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert,
has made it clear he will lift the seven-week-old air and sea
blockade of Lebanon only after all 15,000 Lebanese troops are
deployed and are joined by a 15,000-member reinforced UNIFIL as
outlined in the cease-fire resolution.
The current UNIFIL strength stands at 2,000. About 900 Italian troops
sailed out Tuesday on their way to southern Lebanon as the first
major UNIFIL reinforcement, a down payment on a pledge of 2,500
Italian troops on the ground and hundreds more for logistics. They
were expected to arrive in Tyre on Friday, according to a UNIFIL
spokesman, Milos Strugar.
France has promised 2,000 troops as well, with the first contingent
to arrive in the middle of September. A 200-man French engineering
unit has been in Lebanon for the past two weeks preparing the way.
Several other European nations have promised to send smaller
contingents. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said he is eager to
get Muslim troops into the UNIFIL mix as well, noting that
Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia have volunteered to dispatch
substantial numbers of soldiers. Israel has objected to the presence
of those countries in the force, however, because they do not have
relations with the Jewish state.
Turkey, which maintains active economic and diplomatic relations with
Israel, has decided in principle to volunteer some troops. The
decision remains sensitive, however, because of the long Ottoman role
in Lebanon and, internally, because of objections from Lebanon’s
Armenian community over the Turkish slaughter of Armenians in 1915.