At a safe house in Beirut’s predominantly Shiite southern suburb of Dahiya last week, the Hizbullah commander triumphantly showed a NEWSWEEK reporter photographs from the clashes that he had taken on his cell phone. Yet the militant—sporting a green Dolce & Gabbana baseball cap, wraparound sunglasses and a Browning pistol tucked into his jeans—believes “we’re still in a state of war.” The commander says Hizbullah is also prepared for renewed fighting with Israel. In recent months the Islamists have imported batches of new Russian-made Kalashnikovs and other arms.
Still, Hizbullah’s political leadership knows that long-term fighting is likely to harm the guerrillas’ image in the eyes of ordinary Lebanese. “The prospect of Sunni-Shiite strife has always been Hizbullah’s Achilles’ heel,” says Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Hizbullah scholar in Beirut. That’s one more reason why Hizbullah believes low-profile intel operations could work better than open war. Before leaving, the Hizbullah commander offered one last piece of advice. “I’m being followed,” he said quietly. “You’re being followed.” The message: even if Hizbullah’s forces have largely left Beirut’s streets, its invisible eyes remain.
