Is Beirut recovering? What’s the atmosphere in the city?

The city is more or less back to normality. The traffic is normal and people are back to work except for the southern suburbs, which have been destroyed and are now under reconstruction. And there’s a lot of political discussion about the future of the country.

Is it true that Hezbollah popularity is growing among Lebanese Christians?

That’s very difficult to say. There’s a poll that has recently been released and that has been published by the Daily Star. It shows that we are facing a polarization, however more people are supporting Hezbollah than criticizing it.

In an interview with the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, the mufti of Tyre Sayyed ‘Ali Al-Amin demanded that the Lebanese government bear its responsibility and deploy the Lebanese army in the south of the country. This is because, he says, it is the government that is responsible for the security of the south, and no other group. According to him, "the Shi’ite community in Lebanon authorized no one to declare war in its name". On the contrary, he said, it opposed the war and is loyal to the state just like Lebanon’s other ethnic communities. Does it mean that the Lebanese Shia community is divided in its support of Nasrallah?

Yes, you can find criticism of Hezbollah among Shias, Sunnis, Christians, but you can also find many people backing them for fighting Israel. Clearly there is a widespread criticism for what Israel did, and there is also a lot of criticism of the U.S. and Britain, for giving Israel the diplomatic space to do it. But there is also criticism of Hezbollah. People are saying that Hezbollah triggered this war by kidnapping the two Israeli soldiers. There’s a lot of anger against Washington and London, and a divided opinion about Hezbollah.

Is hate against Israel growing?

I don’t know if it is growing. I know that it has always been there and it can’t decline now, after all the incredible destruction Israel inflicted on Lebanon.

Will the Lebanese army really disarm Hezbollah? Or, as many think, Hezbollah is simply concealing its arms?

When it decided to send the army into the south, the Lebanese government said that its main mission is not to disarm Hezbollah. The main mission is to re-establish the Lebanese government’s writ all over the south. They did it with Hezbollah’s agreement, and Hezbollah is part of the government. So they are not technically disarming Hezbollah, but what they are doing is asserting the Lebanese government presence into the south. Hezbollah has basically put away its arms in the south. They don’t walk around with their arms in public, but they are not disarming.

Don’t you think that the fact that Hezbollah are simply concealing their arms doesn’t resolve the problem?

It depends on how you define the problem. The Lebanese government and Hezbollah have said that they want to discuss the status of Hezbollah as an armed resistance group, but this is going to come later. Initially you have to get the ceasefire stabilized, you have to get the Israelis to leave Lebanon and you have to address outstanding issues like the Shaba farms and the exchange of prisoners. Then, at the second stage, they will discuss the issue of Hezbollah’s arms. I think that people are aware that this issue has to be discussed, and that the disarmament must be done by the Lebanese army now.

Who is the winner of the war?

Militarily it was really a standoff, nobody won and nobody lost. Lebanon was badly destroyed, and it suffered tremendous damage. Lebanon suffered the greatest losses in terms of destruction of infrastructure, but militarily Hezbollah performed very well and forced Israel into a diplomatic solution. Politically Hezbollah has come out of it strong. At the same time Israel showed that militarily it’s also very strong and that with the American support it is willing to destroy the country if it has to.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema warned Syria, saying that if Damascus will arm Hezbollah the international community will not "stand by and watch". What do you think abput the statement?

That’s a position that many people have taken. The Lebanese government has said that it wants to patrol the border with Syria and to prevent arms from coming in. This seems to be a general international agreement, that you shouldn’t have Iran or Syria sending arms to Hezbollah, but at the same time you shouldn’t have Israel occupying the south or attacking Lebanon either. I think that if all the elements of the resolution are respected, that would be acceptable to everyone.