Word: druze
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...that began on July 12 has dramatically altered Lebanese politics. Siniora's allies - an anti-Syria coalition of Sunni and Druze Muslims along with some Christians - blame Hizballah for provoking the conflict by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers, and accuse it of being a pawn in Iran's regional power game. But, Hizballah, the country's largest Shia Muslim party, suspects Siniora of collaborating with the United States and Israel in pursuit of their regional ambitions...
...military-only strategy would be self-defeating for Israel. Carpet bombing Hizballah strongholds is impossible, says military spokesman Captain Mitch Pilcer, because "some of these Lebanese are our allies, and if they come back to a flattened town, they might turn around and join Hizballah." Indeed, although Christian, Druze and some other factions in Lebanon were furious at Hizballah for instigating the war and hiding weapons in civilian neighborhoods that then suffer Israeli retaliation, polls show that the group's overall popularity in Lebanon and the Arab world has risen...
...tried. British Prime Minister Tony Blair signaled that Hizballah would hardly be a straightforward enemy when he said the deployment "can only work if Hizballah is prepared to allow it to work." Even so, U.S. officials still hope the foreign presence could strengthen the political forces inside Lebanon--Christian, Druze, Sunni and others--that resent political domination by Hizballah's private army, perhaps to the point that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government would finally move against it. But Aaron Miller, a former top U.S. Middle East negotiator, says Lebanon's political fragility means that a serious try at bringing...
...Many of Lebanon's other parties and Lebanese, however, don't particularly care about Sheba Farms. "We consider the South to have been liberated in 2000 thanks to Hizballah," said Rami Rayers, a spokesman for Druze leader Wallid Jumblatt. But now "Hizballah has led Lebanon to disaster...
...decided against the fuel and instead careered up and down single-lane routes through the spectacular mountain scenery of the Chouf, the Druze homeland. Things were calm through the various towns of the area, with open stores and people on the streets. We saw a number of cars and minivans coming north, bedecked with white clothes and full of families with grim faces...