With a startled shout from the outcrop above, the Hizballah fighter bounded down the rocky slope and cocked his AK-47 rifle in a dramatic flourish as he drew near. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, his face a mix of anger and astonishment. "This is a military zone. You should not be here."
It turned out that the youthful militant had been guarding a small outpost created by Shi'ite militia on a remote mountaintop in south Lebanon. The location was well chosen, offering the Hizballah men commanding views over the hills and valleys of the southern Bekaa Valley, a likely battlefront if a widely anticipated — and feared — war breaks out between the Iran-backed group and Israel.
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