David Cohen* was one the last soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to leave Lebanon in the summer of 2000. He felt good when he left, because he thought his country was abandoning a senseless occupation policy. "We were there for Hezbollah to shoot at us," the 27-year-old says. He was 19, a sergeant and in charge of 10 soldiers when he sat for two years in an Israeli observation post. "We all thought there was no good reason for us to be there," Cohen says. "... We holed up in our positions and watched the enemy's movements." But these movements, Cohen says, are better observed from the sky.

Two years face-to-face with the enemy will teach you how that enemy operates and how strong he is, and Cohen has great respect for the Shiite militia. "Hezbollah is extremely strong," he says. "It's the strongest guerrilla army in the world."

"The greatest difficulty is that Hezbollah is virtually invisible for us," Cohen says. Who is a Hezbollah militant and who isn't? They only wear their uniforms at night, in order not to be recognized, Cohen points out. "In the daytime, Hezbollah militants wear civilian clothes." The main problem is that they vanish in the general population. The militia reaps the benefits of this enormous advantage even now, during the current Israeli military offensive: "They decide when they're soldiers and when they're civilians."

Military training in grade school

Cohen sees one difference between now and the time that he was stationed in Lebanon: "There are more of them now." The "soldiers of God" -- Hezbollah means "Army of God" -- and their activists are active in every school, from grade school to high school, Cohen says. Military training sessions take place in schoolyards, which are typically zoned off, according to Cohen. That's where Hezbollah recruits its militants, he says, adding that the schoolyard training is supplemented by that offered at training camps in Iran or Syria: "They're well-trained soldiers." Hezbollah is thought to consist of about 3,000 such hardcore militants.

"We made Hezbollah strong," Cohen believes. He's speaking as a civilian -- he hasn't been in the IDF for six years. "We thought we could choke Hezbollah, but the plan didn't work out. They got stronger and stronger in order to drive us out." When then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak gave the order to leave Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah celebrated the decision as a victory over the Zionists, Cohen says -- and changed its strategy too: "Instead of driving us out of Lebanon, they're now trying to chase out of the entire region."

The Shiite "soldiers of God" have had plenty of time to invest in new weapons during the six years that have passed since the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, who was head of the IDF's Intelligence Research Division until a short time ago, said at a recent press conference that Hezbollah is equipped with high-tech weaponry. The militia has obtained plenty of military equipment from Iran and Syria, according to Kuperwasser.

When Syrian airplanes flew emergency supplies into the Iranian city of Bam following the major earthquake there in December 2003 -- an earthquake that killed 35,000 people -- Hezbollah didn't even hesitate to use the same airplanes for weapons shipments, according to the intelligence expert. The equipment flown back to Syria in this way -- the planes were loaded to capacity, according to Kuperwasser -- included Zelzal long-range missiles. In Syria, the equipment was passed on to Hezbollah.

Hiding underground

Kuperwasser confirms that the IDF has great difficulty identifying Hezbollah militants. The guerrilla force uses a tunnel network that was partly constructed by the Israelis, but which Hezbollah has expanded. Thanks to the tunnel network, militants are able to appear as if from nowhere, fire a rocket and disappear underground again, Kuperwasser says.

Anti-tank rockets are especially feared by the IDF. The New York Times recently quoted Israeli tank commanders returning from the current military operation in Lebanon as saying that 20 percent of the anti-tank rockets fired by Hezbollah destroy their target. The rockets are produced in Russia. Even the best Israeli tank, the Merkava, isn't safe against them.

David Cohen has learned first-hand how destructive the rockets are. "We were moving towards our post in a convoy when suddenly a bomb exploded two tanks ahead. Two of my fellow soldiers were killed. Then they started shooting at us with rockets." Cohen remembers another attack as well. "In September 1999 we received information that one of their militants had returned from Iran, a specialist on anti-tank rockets. This man attacked our observation post. His aim was remarkably good. Three of our men were killed."