Hezbollah: Guerrillas present near Israeli border

Hezbollah fighters are still in southern Lebanese towns and villages near the border with Israel, the leader of the militant group boasted in an interview broadcast by Al-Jazeera yesterday.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s comments highlight the challenge faced by the United Nations peacekeeping force in preventing renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Fighters from the group, which controlled parts of south Lebanon for years, are believed to be lying low, having blended in with the local population.

Although the United Nations resolution that ended the war calls for Hezbollah to eventually be disarmed, the UN peacekeeping force moving into the south does not have a mandate to search for weapons.

The beefed-up peacekeeping force, which is to reach 15,000 troops, is expected only to confiscate weapons if they are openly carried to avoid confrontation. The Lebanese army, with 15,000 soldiers already deployed in the area, will not try to disarm Hezbollah, the Lebanese government has said.

“Now the war is finished. There is no demilitarized zone south of the Litani (River). The resistance (Hezbollah) is present south of the Litani and is present in all of south Lebanon,” Nasrallah said. The Litani is 20 miles north of the border.

Hezbollah controlled the area for years ahead of the fighting with Israel that began July 12 after the guerrilla group captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack that also killed three Israeli soldiers.

A UN ceasefire ended the fighting on August 14.

“I feel sorry for Israeli officials who lie to their people by saying: ’We evicted Hezbollah from south Lebanon and we will not allow it to return.’“

Nasrallah claimed that residents of border villages were either Hezbollah fighters or supporters.

“We are the owners of the land. We are the owners of front villages and towns located near the border (with Israel).”

The leader of the Iranian and Syrian-backed group went so far as to claim: “We are present on the border.”