The violence comes on the one-year anniversary of Israel’s month-long attack on Lebanon. The invasion came after Hezbollah fighters killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a raid near the border. Hezbollah said it launched the attack to recover its prisoners captured in previous Israeli cross-border raids and to ease an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 Lebanese died in the ensuing war, most of them civilians; 158 Israelis were killed, most of them soldiers. One year on, Lebanese professor Amal Saad-Ghorayeb says Hezbollah maintains its high standing in Lebanon.

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb: “Hezbollah has the support of the overwhelming majority of Shi’ites and a sizable Christian segment of the community. At the same time, I would say that Hezbollah’s support was heightened both during and after the war. Hezbollah’s rationale for maintaining its arms has increased because of the Israeli threat to Lebanon and because the Shi’ite southerners bore the brunt of the war and the Shi’ites in the southern suburbs of Beirut.”