WARS are always filled with surprises. But hardly anyone, including veteran military observers, expected Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters to withstand Israel’s armed forces for a month. This wholly unexpected resistance of some 3,000 Hezbollah fighters to the world’s fourth most powerful military machine electrified the Muslim world and stunned Israelis, who had foolishly dismissed Hezbollah as a bunch of terrorists.

According to the Israeli media, Israel had apparently been planning the Lebanon invasion for the past three years and conducted a mock invasion of Lebanon only a month ago. The invasion of southern Lebanon was expected to be rapid and low in casualties.

Instead, Hezbollah fought Israel’s armoured juggernaut to a standstill.

Why have Hezbollah’s mujahideen proven such fierce and skilled fighters? Many are well-educated university graduates, often around 30-40 years old. They are dedicated to driving Israeli troops from Lebanon and aiding the Palestinian cause.

Hezbollah’s Shia traditions of self-sacrifice, fearlessness and heroism in battle play a key role. So, too, does the concept of noble martyrdom in righteous battle. The Israel Defense Forces has suffered grave casualties in southern Lebanon, notably near the strategic hilltop town of Marjayoun, incurring scores of casualties. Hezbollah claims to have knocked out 13 of Israel’s superbly armoured Merkava tanks. Nearby Bint Jebil, which changed hands numerous times, is being hailed as ‘Hezbollagrad’ after the legendary World War II battle at Stalingrad. Many Hezbollah officers are highly skilled veterans of the 1980’s war. By contrast, IDF ground forces seem to have forgotten almost all the bitter lessons previously learned in Lebanon.

The 1980’s occupation cost Israel nearly 800 soldiers and billions of dollars. Hezbollah fighters stand out among Arab military forces for proficiency in small unit combat tactics. Their squads are experts in moving and firing, setting up interlocking fields of fire, laying ambushes and anti-tank mines and pre-registered mortar fire plans. In this sense, Hezbollah mujahideen are showing the same tenacious and deadly combat skills as North Vietnam’s renowned light infantry in the Indochina Wars.

Hezbollah’s men wear modern body armour and helmets. They have supplies of munitions cached all over the area, and networks of bunkers, caves and trenches that partially neutralise Israel’s command of the air. Subjected to intensive, round-the-clock bombing by Israel’s Air Force and shelling by heavy guns, Hezbollah’s fighters have never wavered or retreated, and continued to resist with ferocity. No professional western troops could do better.

One of Hezbollah’s few advantages is intimate knowledge of southern Lebanon’s fractured terrain of steep hills, dry stream beds, twisting roads and deep ravines. Israel’s vast number of tanks and armoured vehicles cannot be employed to full force in such terrain as they were in the deserts of Sinai and barren Golan Heights.

Equally important, Hezbollah’s infantry has acquired sizeable amounts of anti-tank systems. These include the venerable but still destructive US TOW sourced from refurbished Iranian stocks, the Soviet Sagger, and the modern European Milan, likely obtained on the black market or from Syria, as well as some modern Russian systems. These weapons have caused the largest number of Israeli casualties and armour losses and are a fearsome threat for IDF infantry packed into vulnerable armoured personnel carriers.

Had Hezbollah any effective shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons, such as the US Stinger that neutralised Soviet aviation in Afghanistan, Israel’s enormous advantage from devastating close air support would also be partially neutralised.

Far from being what Israel and the US call a ‘terrorist group’ Hezbollah is an integrated political, social, cultural and military movement that represents Lebanon’s Shia, who make up 40 per cent of that nation’s people. Recent polls show 87 per cent of Lebanese now support Hezbollah. Even Al Qaeda, which used to brand the Shias traitors to the Arab cause, now hails Hezbollah as a vanguard of Arab liberation. Israel has admitted military failure in Lebanon by effectively replacing its northern commander.

Meanwhile, 40,000 more Israeli troops are poised to enter Lebanon, most of whose population has been driven out by Israeli bombing and shelling. Israel says it is delaying the operation pending ongoing talks in the UN Security Council. The most likely scenario for this new incursion is a westward thrust from the Galilee panhandle along the Litani River, thus isolating southern Lebanon. But Hezbollah’s leader, Shaikh Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed to fight for every village and hill. However, his men are running low on munitions and taking serious, though not crippling, losses.

Bombing will not destroy Hezbollah. The Bush Administration’s encouragement of Israel’s foolish strategy marks its third military disaster. Israel risks getting permanently stuck in Lebanon through this mission. Hezbollah cannot be uprooted without wiping out Lebanon’s 1.5 million Shias.

But Israel’s political leaders now cannot stop the war without winning a clear military victory. Anything less will be called a major defeat and bring them well-deserved political oblivion. All Hezbollah has to do to win is survive the Israeli onslaught. Israel is desperately trying to assassinate Shaikh Hassan. But even his death will not eliminate Hezbollah. Israel’s only way out of this mess is for America to provide it a face-saving diplomatic exit strategy. Meanwhile, Hezbollah is being hailed as the new heroes of the Muslim world, little turbaned Davids battling the US-Israeli Goliath.

Eric S Margolis is a veteran US journalist and contributing foreign editor of the Toronto Sun. He has long covered the Middle East. He can be reached at margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com