All Hezbollah lacks is a group on Facebook

A tour of Beirut with the militia’s PR division

Beirut

A year after Israel’s failed attempt to bomb Hezbollah into the Middle Ages, the ‘war’ of 2006 is now known as the ‘Divine Victory’ in these parts. With November’s general election on hold, politics in Lebanon is as complicated as it ever has been. Druze, Christian groups, Muslim parties and a smattering of Marxists are all vying for a say in a government led by a hugely unpopular prime minister. Fouad Siniora lost the public’s support last July when he was filmed warmly hugging Condoleezza Rice as US-made cluster bombs fell on voters’ homes. Not a great PR move. Meanwhile Hezbollah continues winning hearts and minds nationwide.

Widely believed to have the slickest PR operation of any similarly sized organisation in the Middle East, the group is headed by Hassan Nasrallah. He is regarded as a rhetorical giant in some quarters. Take his words broadcast last 14 July: ‘Now in the middle of the sea facing Beirut, the Israeli warship that attacked our infrastructure and civilians .