Nasrallah Under Pressure

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In recent years, Nasrallah has consolidated Hizballah's ties to its powerful sponsors, Iran and Syria. The group receives as much as $300 million a year from Tehran, and Nasrallah is a confidant of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom he visited on a weekly basis prior to the war. Lebanese sources speaking to TIME give credence to Israeli reports that the Hizballah leader has spent part of the war holed up in the Iranian embassy in Beirut--which may have secret tunnels leading to Nasrallah's now destroyed headquarters. But within Lebanon, his coziness with foreign patrons is a liability. A senior Lebanese official tells TIME that as soon as the fighting stops, Lebanese political parties plan to confront Nasrallah with demands that Hizballah hand over its weapons and accept the primacy of the Lebanese government, as demanded by the Security Council.

So will he? Don't count on it. If Nasrallah surrenders, it would destroy his newfound aura as Islam's defiant redeemer. He may agree in principle to a cease-fire, but it's doubtful he will ever allow Hizballah to be totally defanged, since the group's arms enable Nasrallah to call the shots in Lebanon--and moving to disarm Hizballah by force could trigger a civil war. Some see a clue to Nasrallah's intentions in the Koranic verse inscribed on the Hizballah flag adorning his television broadcasts. PREPARE FOR THEM WHATEVER FORCES YOU CAN MUSTER, it reads. Nasrallah's war may be just getting started.