Hezbollah is claiming victory in its battle against the democratic government of Lebanon.  According to the Washington Times Hezbollah is redrawing the the Mideast map.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Hezbollah's dramatic gains in Lebanon last week are just part of a regional process that began last year in the Gaza Strip and will continue in Jordan and Egypt, a Hamas official in the West Bank told The Washington Times.

Sheik Yazeeb Khader, a Ramallah-based Hamas political activist and editor, said militant groups across the Middle East are gaining power at the expense of U.S.-backed regimes, just as Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"What happened in Gaza in 2007 is an achievement; now it is happening in 2008 in Lebanon. It's going to happen in 2009 in Jordan and it's going to happen in 2010 in Egypt," Sheik Khader said in an interview.

"We are seeing a redrawing of the map of the Middle East where the forces of resistance and steadfastness are the ones moving the things on the ground."

Not everyone agrees with that assessment.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, took a different approach to the standoff in Lebanon by saying that the fighting primarily served Israel.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reports that it was the Lebanese Army who took control after a cease fire went into effect Sunday.

Lebanon's army deployed across mountains overlooking the capital Monday after at least 11 people were killed in fierce clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters entrenched in the hilly plateau, security officials and paramedics said.

The fighting lulled late Sunday after pro-government Druse leader Walid Jumblatt called on his Druse opponents in the mountains, who are allied with Hizbullah, to mediate a cease-fire and hand over the region to Lebanese troops.

The Post article contains this insight into the ramifications of Israel's struggles against Hezbollah and their like.

After the civil war ended in 1990, all of Lebanon's various militias surrendered their weapons and transformed into political parties, keeping only small arms. Only Hizbullah was allowed to keep its arms because it was considered a resistance movement battling Israel.

The destruction of Israel has long been the stated aim of terrorist groups that call themselves resistance movements, but who are in reality armed thugs engaged in the business of terror for hire to clients like Syria and Iran.

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