Lo, the Party of God Still Vows Victory

Hizballah, the Shi'ite Muslim Party of God, arrived publicly on the Middle East scene a decade ago in a hail of gunfire: young fighters, armed with grenades and shouting "Allahu Akbar!" captured an invading Israeli armored personnel carrier near Beirut in June 1982 and paraded it through the city. They took their name from a verse in the Koran, "Lo, the Party of God, they are victorious," and their money, weapons and inspiration from fundamentalist sponsors in Tehran.

Throughout the 1980s, Hizballah had a dark reputation; it was notorious for seizing Western hostages, setting off car bombs and nurturing groups like Islamic Jihad, which blew up the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. But it sought Arab approval by deploying its thousands of fighters to harass Israeli troops occupying southern Lebanon.

Hizballah decided to change its image two years ago. It opened a press office and vaunted its large, modern hospitals in Baalbek and Beirut and social programs that had created widespread Shi'ite loyalty. Last year eight of its candidates won seats in Lebanon's 128-member parliament. Symbolizing the new look, groups of Hizballah supporters lined the main road between Beirut and southern Lebanon last week, holding out plastic boxes to collect relief contributions from motorists.

But Hizballah's top leaders show no signs of mellowing when they speak of their enemies. While Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who took over as secretary- general last year after the Israelis killed his predecessor, opposes kidnapping Westerners, he scorns the U.S. "They are primarily responsible for all Israeli crimes," he says. His deputy, Sheik Naim Qassim, says last week's Israeli attacks will have no effect on Hizballah. "None of us is afraid to die," he says. "Our principles and aims are more important than our lives." Those aims include driving the Israelis from southern Lebanon and seeking an end to what they call "Western domination" of the Middle East.