A year after Israel's war to destroy Hizbullah, resistance to US policy in the region is even stronger, Lucy Fielder reports Israel's failure to weaken Hizbullah was never clearer than this week. As the Shia guerrilla group geared up to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its "Divine Victory" against the Jewish state, Secretary-General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah announced that its capabilities were as strong as ever and met with the president of Iran, the main backer of the group. Hizbullah's other key ally, Syria, also showed further signs of coming in from the cold. In a two-part interview with Al-Jazeera, Nasrallah gave the clearest affirmation since the war ended on 14 August last year that Hizbullah had fully rearmed. "In July and August 2006, there wasn't a place in occupied Palestine that the rockets of the resistance could not reach, be it Tel Aviv or other cities. We could do that now. No problem," he said. Lebanese security sources have said Hizbullah's rocket arsenal was replenished after the group fired about 4,000 of them last summer and that Iran had bolstered its anti-aircraft and anti- tank defences with missile supplies. In a lengthy description of military tactics last summer, Nasrallah said Syria had warned Israel through mediators during the war that if its forces entered the Lebanese Arqoub region, close to Damascus, it would engage in battle, even on Lebanese territory. "The Israelis took this message seriously, no ground advance took place in that [area] and not a single Israeli soldier advanced there," he said. About 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed during the 34-day war. Nasrallah met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Damascus on 19 July. Although the talks were behind closed doors, the overall message was that international efforts to isolate the Jebhat Al-Mumanaa "resistance front" against US plans in the region -- comprising Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas -- have so far failed. Ahmadinejad also met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during his one-day visit, as well as Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. "This meeting consecrated the relationship between all members of the Jebhat Al-Mumanaa -- Ahmadinejad meets Nasrallah and Hamas in Damascus -- how much clearer can you get?" said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb of the Carnegie Endowment's Beirut-based Middle East Centre. "And the meeting was timely because all these feelers have been sent out regarding peace between Israel and Syria." Israel has responded to Syrian peace overtures with demands that Iranian-Syrian ties be cut first. Israel has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967 and the two countries came close to a peace agreement in 2000. Syria, for its part, has sought assurances that Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights before talks could start. Each side has rejected the other's conditions. In a further hint that Iran's isolation is easing, a second round of ambassador-level Iranian-US talks concerning security in Iraq also started in Baghdad this week. However, Saad-Ghorayeb said the failure of the US to undermine its foes in the region was not necessarily good news for its opponents in Lebanon. "When the US is weakened in the region it starts pushing for and investing in progress in Lebanon and Palestine -- they've become showcases," she said. Hizbullah's vaunted capacity to defend against an Israeli attack is of questionable use on the internal battlefield, where the opposition it leads and the pro-Western government have locked horns for the past eight months. After "ice- breaking" talks at the senior representative rather than leadership level in Saint Cloud, outside Paris, two weeks ago, both sides await a renewed dialogue. But neither is backing down on its demands. For the opposition, a national unity government giving popular Christian leader Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement a "blocking third" of cabinet seats is paramount. For the ruling parliamentary majority, a presidential election due in September must come first. The ruling "14th March" movement has threatened to elect a president by a simple majority instead of the two- thirds of MPs required to choose a head of state. But outcry even among its own ranks has made this option look increasingly unlikely. Lahoud's term was extended by three years in September 2004 under Syrian pressure, which required a constitutional amendment and galvanised opposition to Damascus's post-war domination of its smaller neighbour. Cautious hopes are pinned on the visit of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to Lebanon on 28 July. Kouchner's envoy, Jean- Claude Cousseran, visited Beirut for the second time this week to meet politicians from both sides and try to kick-start a dialogue. Kouchner's positive approach to Damascus over the past week appears to be a further sign of France's departure from the policy of the US, as well as that of President Nicolas Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, a close friend of assassinated the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Al-Hariri. Cousseran headed to Syria last week, the first visit by a senior French official since the 2005 killing plunged Lebanon into crisis and froze Syrian-French relations. Kouchner told reporters Syria's help in setting up the Saint Cloud meeting had paved the way for Cousseran's trip. "A certain number of obstacles disappeared because Syrian wanted them to," he said. "We sent a first envoy to hold talks with the Syrian government because it seemed to us to be a good sign on the path towards improved relations." Al-Hayat, the London-based Arab newspaper, has reported that Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa may accompany Kouchner to Lebanon. All stops, it seems, will be pulled out to get parliamentarians to agree on a presidential candidate and avert a power vacuum in September. Another predicted flash-point before the election is the 5 August by-election for two seats in the Christian Metn region in the mountains north of Beirut and mainly Sunni Beirut. Both are to replace assassinated "14th March" MPs: Metn's Pierre Gemayel was assassinated last November; a car-bomb killed Beirut's Walid Eido last month. A Saad Hariri loyalist is expected to prevail in Beirut, but Metn, a strong-hold of Aoun, is expected to remain heated because the Christians are the only major sect in Lebanon split between the "14th March" and the opposition. The former president, Amin Gemayel threw his hat in the ring this week. Although Aoun contests the legitimacy of the elections -- which are to proceed without the president's approval -- his Free Patriotic Movement has announced it will challenge Gemayel.
