They pushed, shoved, shouted and cursed one another. In the end, posters of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah would not be plastered around this tiny Sunni Muslim village in southern Lebanon mourning the loss of 23 of its own, slain in an Israeli air attack during the month-long war with Hezbollah. "Why do you want to put up an image of someone who is killing us?" one man screamed as a mob of dozens waved their fists and thrust open palms toward Nasrallah supporters clutching posters of the bearded and bespectacled Hezbollah chief. "We don't want to see it!"Though everyone here blames Israel for the 23 deaths, many place equal blame on Hezbollah for bringing their fighters into the region and drawing Israeli fire. Such displays of anger illustrate the complexities of a nation where Shiite, Sunni, Christian and Druse beliefs exist in a tumultuous mix that boiled over during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
Open criticism of Hezbollah is rare in predominantly Shiite Muslim south Lebanon, where yellow Hezbollah flags fly over demolished houses and posters of Nasrallah adorn almost every utility pole and shop. Anger is more common in a handful of Christian villages where residents blame Hezbollah - and its capture of two Israeli soldiers July 12 - for Israeli reprisals that destroyed large swaths of this country. The region's Sunni minority is split into pro- and anti-Hezbollah pockets, but here in Marwaheen, anger has welled up since the July 15 killings of 23 civilians fleeing artillery and rocket duels between the Israeli army and Hezbollah guerrillas, who had taken up positions in their midst.