The Lebanese resistance does not expect a resumption of last week's fatal exchanges with Israel. Eight Lebanese and two Israelis were killed and heavy damage was inflicted on both sides when the Hizbullah fired Katyusha rockets into Israel and Israel responded with air raids on power plants and bridges, cutting electricity to the capital and roads from Beirut to the South. But bombing has not cowed or curbed the resistance, asserted Mr Mahmoud Komati, deputy chairman of the 12-member Hizbullah politburo, interviewed by The Irish Times at the movement's headquarters in the notorious southern slum suburbs of the Lebanese capital where Shia militants once held western hostages.
"Hizbullah will continue to fire Katyushas into northern Israel if the Israelis launch repeat large-scale attacks against our civilians. The lives of our civilians are equal to the lives of theirs."
Responding to Tuesday's announcement by the outgoing Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Moshe Arens, that the 1996 understandings banning attacks on civilians were meaningless and worthless, Mr Komati stated: "Israel cannot unilaterally abrogate understandings which have international validity. Hizbullah continues to consider these understandings binding. Without them there will be chaos".
He continued: "We did not send Katyushas into Israel until Israeli forces committed 11 violations of the understandings" which ended Israel's 1996 "Grapes of Wrath" operation in which 175 Lebanese died and 300,000 were driven temporarily from their homes and villages in the border zone.
"We first sent a warning message to Israel by bombarding the frontier area. They did not heed this warning and continued to shell civilians. So we responded by sending a first round of Katyushas into northern Israel without killing anyone. The Israelis retaliated by bombing the Jamhour power station.
"We did not target Kiryat Shmona until they hit Jamhour a second time. We inflicted casualties because of the deaths of four civil defence workers and firemen at Jamhour . . . We used retaliation to prevent Israeli attacks on our civilians and to respond to such attacks," he stated.
"We are pretty meticulous and precise with our targeting," he said, making the point that Hizbullah can pick and choose its targets and gauge the damage its rockets will cause.
Asked how Hizbullah viewed authoritative UN reports that Israel is reinforcing its military compounds in the occupation zone, Mr Komati replied: "Israel is trying to create a new situation free from Katyushas and free from our operations so it can widen its margin of manoeuvre and negotiate [withdrawal] from a position of strength."
He said Hizbullah "does not discriminate between Likud and Labour governments. Israel wants to withdraw. Israel says publicly it will leave. But Israel seeks to create advantageous conditions. It wants to get a political agreement, a security umbrella and other gains."
The Lebanese authorities and Hizbullah insist that Israel should pull out unconditionally.
Mr Komati sees the evacuation by Israel's surrogate South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia of the Jezzine enclave last month as a "good precedent" for how things will be handled in the occupation zone.
"Hizbullah will follow this example and remain outside any areas handed over to the Lebanese authorities. But the struggle will continue until all Lebanese territory is liberated."
He would not comment on the question of what Hizbullah would do once Israel does leave. "We will wait and see what happens."
He stressed the guerrilla group's readiness to co-operate with UN peacekeepers during the withdrawal process and concluded: "Whenever the withdrawal takes place, it will be a big victory for the resistance.
"It will be the first time Israel is forced by military action to withdraw permanently [from Arab territory]. Other withdrawals had been negotiated.
"You get more when you fight. Blood is a better investment than talk."
AFP adds: Lebanon has received assurances from France and the US that meetings of the south Lebanon truce committee will resume once a new government is formed in Israel, the Prime Minister, Mr Salim Hoss, said in remarks published yesterday.
"I have received assurances from the French and US ambassadors in Beirut that the truce panel will hold its promised meeting with the formation of a new government in Israel," Mr Hoss told An-Nahar newspaper. "This is expected to happen within a few days."