"... The new government in Lebanon is based upon a balance of fear between Hizbullah & its opponents ..."

Eyal Zisser in the DailyStar, here

"... He was prepared to accept most of Hizbullah’s conditions. When Hariri found himself immersed in personal quarrels with Aoun, he resolved them by making additional concessions. And he began hinting that he might be prepared to put aside his hostility with Syria. Hariri considers Syria responsible for the murder of his father, Rafik Hariri. Still, he indicated that he might be willing to open a new page between the two countries.

Thus it appears that the March 14 camp’s June 2009 electoral victory was only partial and short-term, one clash in a long battle far from finished, a battle over the path Lebanon takes and the future of the country......

... As a matter of fact, between the end of the 2006 war and the fall of 2009 Hizbullah almost tripled the number of missiles at its disposal. In November 2009, it was estimated that the organization possessed 40,000-50,000 missiles of the type it had used against northern Israel during the 2006 war......

It may be assumed that the new government formed in Lebanon is based upon a balance of fear between Hizbullah and its opponents, especially Hariri and the Sunni community he heads. It may also be assumed that a tense calm will continue to prevail along the Israeli-Lebanese border in the absence of either side having any interest in disturbing the quiet.....

The present moment may be merely an intermission between two episodes in the struggle within Lebanon, and in the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah. Either or both fronts could explode at any time."