Aita al Shaab, Lebanon - On the eve of the second anniversary of July war between Lebanon and Israel, residents of the southern village of Aita al Shaab, where the war erupted, expressed relief that the file of the Israeli and Lebanese prisoners will soon be closed. Villagers were busy erecting placards praising the Hezbollah guerrilla group and its so-called "divine victory" over Israel during 33-days of fighting.
"God Bless Hezbollah, our prisoners and (Hezbollah) leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah," one placard read.
The war broke out when Hezbollah launched a cross-border raid near Aita alShaab, snatching two Israeli soldiers and killing three more, prompting Israel to unlease a wide-scale offensive.
The fighting ended inconclusively, and Israel's stated aim of securing the release of its two soldiers looks like being realised only now, with a prisoner exchange deal expected to be carried out next week.
"Two years after the war, I consider this a victory for Lebanon and the Lebanese resistance (Hezbollah) that we managed to swap those two Israeli prisoners with all our Lebanese prisoners who will return soon to their country," a villager who identified himself as Abu Imad told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.
"This is the best anniversary victory that Hezbollah has given to the Lebanese, despite all the sacrifices by the southern Lebanese villagers," Abu Imad said.
Under the deal, Israel will free five Lebanese prisoners and also release the remains of Hezbollah fighters, in exchange for the two soldiers, who Israeli officials, in the absence of any information on their well-being from the Iranian backed guerrilla group, believe to be dead.
The 76-year-old man recalled the July 12 incident which set off the war.
"I remember hearing a lot of machine gun fire, I thought it was a regular clash between Hezbollah and an Israeli patrol, but few hours later we heard that the resistance snatched two Israeli soldiers," he said with a pause.
"By nightfall, shells and rockets were raining down on our village and people were fleeing the area due to the intensity of the Israeli retaliatory bombardment," he said.
For most people inside Aita al Shaab, Hezbollah had made a "victorious challenge" to Israel and managed to "squeeze the hands ofIsraeli (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert" during the war.
Hezbollah (the Party of God in Arabic) claimed a "divine victory" during the July war, while in Israel it was widely considered a failure and resulted in the resignations of defence minister Amir Peretz and military chief of staff Dan Halutz, although Olmert has resisted calls to follow their example.
"The Israeli war on Lebanon which was aimed at destroying the arsenal of Hezbollah failed, because now Hezbollah is more powerful and we in the south are all Hezbollah, " said Jihad, a Hezbollah follower from Aita al Shaab.
According to Israeli intelligence officials quoted by local radio stations, Hezbollah now has an arsenal of 40,000 rockets, three times more than in July 2006.
But the July 2006 war, despite Hezbollah's declared victory, left a negative legacy on the internal Lebanese political arena and since then, the country has been crippled by a political crisis that pitted the western-backed ruling majority against the Iranian-and-Syrian- backed opposition led by Hezbollah.
The western-backed majority have criticized Hezbollah for taking the country to war with Israel by snatching the two soldiers, without notifying or discussing the issue with the Lebanese government.
Such statements have angered Hezbollah officials who started their harsh campaign against the government, accusing it of taking orders from the United States, a main ally of Israel.
The standoff has intensified over the last few months and has threatened the country with a new civil war, similar to the one that hit Lebanon in 1975-1990.
The standoff turned bloody during May, when sectarian violence, which pitted Hezbollah gunmen and others from the mainly Sunni ruling parliamentary bloc, left 85 people dead and deepened divisions inside the country.
Hezbollah managed in less than three hours to take control of the capital Beirut, a move which increased fears and concern among their Lebanese rivals that the group's arsenal was now being used internally and not to fight Israel.
Hezbollah has always stressed that its weapons will not be used domestically and its main goal was to use its arms against Israel if it attacks Lebanon.
The crisis ended with a deal brokered in Doha, Qatar, on May 21 which saw army chief Michel Suleiman elected Lebanon's head of state after a six-month void.
The agreement also called for the formation of a unity government giving the opposition veto power.
One of the main challenges facing Lebanon, its president and the new government formed on July 11, will be to discuss the fate of Hezbollah's arms when Lebanese rivals are called for a round-table dialogue by President Michel Suleiman.
