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Y. is an Arab woman from a Sunni Muslim family, but she has a European passport so she can travel freely between Israel and Lebanon. She has been living in Beirut for several years. She spent the Second Lebanon War there. We met for the first time in Tel Aviv after the war and traded experiences. She liked Tel Aviv - it reminds her of Beirut. She did not like the war at all, but in no way could she be considered anti-Israeli. She came to visit her Israeli friends a year later. I asked her what life is like now in Beirut, a year and a half after the war.
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So Nasrallah isn't popular any more? Hezbollah isn't still viewed as heroes? I ask her.
Are you kidding? she replies. Hezbollah's base is very solid. Not just among the Shi'ites. The middle-class Christians, supporters of the former general Michel Ayoun, believe Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government represents the interests of the large, old families. They want social mobility, and this they find with Hezbollah. The movement represents a possibility for change.
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But if there is one lesson to be learned from the last war, it is that Israel knows almost nothing about Hezbollah. A senior military source has said the Mossad brought zero operational information about Hezbollah. They did not know where the nature reserves were located, where Hezbollah was hiding, where their field commanders were. This is one of the reasons, according to a Human Rights Watch report, why only 50 Hezbollah members were killed in Israel Defense Forces bombings and bombardments, and 150 were killed in battles on the ground. More than 1,000 of the dead were civilians, says the organization.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/947646.html