Hezbollah's actions rile, rally Lebanese

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A mother choked up as she thought of her children stuck in south Lebanon, where Israeli bombing is fiercest. A restaurateur railed against Hezbollah for sparking the conflict. A refugee pledged her life to the militant group.

After four days of a massive Israeli offensive triggered by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers, Lebanese remained divided Saturday over the guerrillas' operation. Some were angry and terrified; others took pride in what they saw as a feat no Arab government has accomplished.

The split over Hezbollah's actions is mostly along sectarian lines, with Shiites largely supporting the Shiite militant group's action and most Sunnis, Christians and Druse opposing it.

"No one has stood up to Israel the way the resistance [Hezbollah] has," said Laila Remeiti, 33, a homemaker who was one of about 130 people taking shelter in a school after fleeing Shiite areas south of Beirut.

"The least people can do is support it," Remeiti said.

Refugees, many given foam mattresses and stoves by Hezbollah, jostled with each other to express a similar sentiment.

"Although we have been displaced, we remain ready to give up our children and men for the resistance," Huda Faqih, 42, said. "And we shall prevail."

At least 106 Lebanese have died, mostly civilians, and the mood was grim at a shuttered Italian restaurant.

"I'm more than upset," said Michel Ferneini, manager of the company that owns the restaurant. "Hezbollah has no logic at all."

"You can repair a bridge that has been destroyed, but you cannot repair the eyes of the people who watch people dying under the bridge."

Hazem Saghieh, a senior Lebanese columnist with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, reflected that view.

"It's inappropriate for us at the best of times to trade a whole people and country for a couple of kidnapped Israeli soldiers," he wrote Friday. "It's as if we're admitting that one Israeli soldier ... is equal to half the Lebanese population."

Others worried about loved ones in the south. Israel has bombed bridges and roads to that region.

"I sent my three children to my mother-in-law's in the south last week," said Ghada Hasan, 25. "And now I cannot reach them."