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Source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,723870,00.html
Hizbullah Riding on a Wave of Confidence
(Der Spiegel-Germany) Daniel Steinvorth - When Hizbullah organizes a major rally, al-Wilaya is always there - a revolutionary choir of young bearded men wearing paratrooper boots and brown combat uniforms - who sing about "glorious martyrs" and the "bloodsucker America." For weeks now, a new song by al-Wilaya has been booming from the loudspeakers of street cafes in southern Beirut - dedicated to Ahmadinejad: "You noble knight from Persia, you pride of the nations." "Even if Hizbullah is perhaps nothing more than a plaything of the Iranians, the Lebanese Shiites are enjoying finally being recognized as the strongest voice in the country," says Beirut political scientist Hilal Khashan. However, Shiite publisher and filmmaker Lokman Slim, 48, says, "The world unrelentingly overestimates Hizbullah as a parliamentary force." "If there were truly free elections in Lebanon, which were not based on religious proportional representation, group pressure and corruption, Hizbullah would certainly not be the strongest party among the Shiites," he believes.