Dubai: While the ceasefire seems to be holding 48 hours after it came into effect, Hezbollah also appears determined to preserve its achievements from the 33-day war and build on them.
On the international stage, the group does not want to be seen as the party that violates the ceasefire agreement.
On the internal level, they do not want to hinder the government's extension of its authority to all parts of the country.
According to Hezbollah MP, Hussain Haj Hassan, the group is willing to cooperate with the Lebanese army and the UN troops in their deployment in the south.
Hassan also told Gulf News that Hezbollah will not be the first to violate the fragile ceasefire that went into effect on Monday morning, while renewing Hezbollah's position that it has the full right to respond to any Israeli attack.
"If Israel starts an aggression, we will retaliate. We will not be the first [to attack]," Hassan said.
The ceasefire was according to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which also called for the Lebanese army and 15,000 troops to take control of South Lebanon, a move that was praised by many Lebanese analysts.
Lebanon, and despite all its losses, "has won, by diplomacy, a substantial achievement: the possibility of the army's deployment in the south," wrote columnist Sahar Ba'aseri in the Lebanese Arabic language newspaper, Annahar.
She added that Hezbollah had won by numerous criteria.
"First, it has won by not being defeated and by its steadfastness in facing Israel's sophisticated arsenal."
Meanwhile, Lebanese official sources told Gulf News the government will convene within "a couple of days" to announce the deployment of the army in the south, without giving further details.
Lebanese Defence minister Elias Murr stressed in a television interview that "the army won't be deployed to south Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, something which Israel wasn't able to do itself."
He continued, "once the army is deployed there won't be any arms or armed presence in the area except for the army and UN forces."
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday vowed that his fighters would not be forced to disarm by "intimidation or pressure."
The issue of disarming Hezbollah, which was the force behind the end of the 22-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, is "not for discussion" at present, said Hassan.
"Because the Israeli aggression still stands, Israel still occupies Shebaa Farms, the Lebanese prisoners are not yet back home, Lebanon has not yet received the mines map, and Israeli warplanes are still violating Lebanese air space."
However, Hezbollah will "cooperate with the Lebanese army, and pave the road," he added.
"We don't have armed people in the south, we don't have a presence now. Our armed men have vanished. We are not an authority. We are not a country. We are a resistance," Hassan continued.
The Hezbollah MP countered US President George W. Bush's accusation of Hezbollah attacking Israel, and creating the crisis, before suffering a "defeat".
Hassan responded by saying "also blame him [Bush] for all the destruction in the world."
"I believe we should demand that Bush compensate Lebanon for all the destruction and not Israel, because George Bush led the war against us and not Israel."
