Nice: a couple of years ago Hizbullah and Israel went to war with each other. The result was that the Shi’ite terrorist organization was severely weakened and had lost many of its fighters. Aside from that, though, the organization had also proved that it could fight back against Israel and that Olmer is a weak leader; he could’ve crushed Hizbullah, but instead he decided to give in to international pressure, and let Hizbullah off the hook. Hizbullah suffered, but it also learned an important lesson; next time, it would be even stronger, and better prepared.

Now “an Observer investigation has discovered that this covert organisation is quietly but steadily replacing its dead and redoubling its recruitment efforts in anticipation of a new, and even more brutal, conflict.”

Hizbollah has embarked on a major expansion of its fighting capability and is now sending hundreds, if not thousands, of young men into intensive training camps in Lebanon, Syria and Iran to ready itself for war with Israel. ‘It’s not a matter of if,’ says one fighter. ‘It’s a matter of when Sayed Hasan Nasrallah [Hizbollah chief] commands us.’

The group’s policy of refusing to discuss military matters extends to the highest levels. In speeches and rare interviews, Nasrallah refuses to answer even the simplest questions about the military wing, never referring even to the fact that his eldest son, Hadi, was a fighter himself. Life as a Hizbollah fighter is anonymous until death. But meetings with fighters, activists, Lebanese security officials, the UN peacekeepers along the border and residents of south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the group is most active, offered a glimpse inside the workings of a group rarely open to outsiders. None of the sources within the group can be named – Hizbollah has barred members from speaking with the Western media since the mysterious death of a top commander, Imad Mughniyeh, in a Damascus car bomb…

‘The most important thing is to never talk,’ says one fighter, who agreed to speak about the group without revealing his name or specific duties inside ‘the Islamic Resistance of Lebanon’, as the military wing of Hizbollah is known. ‘From the moment we begin our training, we are told two things: never disobey an order and never talk about the resistance. Hizbollah is not a job, it is not a family. It is a mix of religion, honour, dignity and discipline. It is my life.’

But what is becoming more obvious, even as Hizbollah tries to hide it, is that the group has embarked on an unprecedented build-up of men, equipment and bunker-building in preparation for the war that almost everyone – Lebanese and Israeli – considers inevitable. ‘The villages in the south are empty of men,’ said one international official. ‘They are all gone, training in Bekaa, Syria and Iran.’…

The initial training and selection of recruits is done in Lebanon, with Iran preferred for training on specialities – use of certain weapons, RPGs and anti-tank missiles – that require firing live rounds. ‘But mostly the training in Iran is in theoretical things: philosophy, religion. The best training for fighting is done here in Lebanon,’ said a fighter. ‘We are so close to Israel here that our training becomes real.’

Israel says that the new recruitment offensive is a result of the war two years ago. Many Hizbullah fighters were killed in that conflict. However, according to Hizbullah and US sources, the reasons for the recruitment are that Hizbullah is considered to be quite an effective organization – so many people want to fight for it – and that the war in 2006 has given Hizbullah leaders the impression that they are more than terrorists; they can also function as a conventional military force. In other words; the recruitment efforts are doubled because Hizbullah leaders believe that their organization can function as a regular army in a conflict.

Israel, then, should prepare for another major regional war. The stronger Hizbullah becomes the more likely it is that the Shi’ite terrorists will open a massive attack against Israel. And once that happens, well, there’s only one adequate response possible: squash the terrorists.

The war in 2006 was a massive propaganda victory for Hizbullah. Sure it lost a couple of hundreds of fighters, but the losses were nothing compared to the gains. Israel can’t allow that to happen again.