The Lebanese army said it had frozen measures taken by the government against the Hezbollah movement, and called for all armed militants to withdraw from the streets.

The controversial imam has promoted sharia law and vigorously defended Iran's fundamentalist regime and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

Speculataion about their mission was that they were trying to assassinate a senior Shia Muslim cleric of the Hezbollah movement.

Anti-Israeli groups spearheaded by the powerful Hezbollah movement have vowed to retaliate against Israel.

He said that Hamas intended to strengthen its ties with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

And because of that, we have big esteem for the Hezbollah movement.

Thus the new Israeli land offensive may take ground and destroy weapons, but it has little chance of destroying the Hezbollah movement.

The suburbs were strongholds of the Hezbollah movement, which, unlike other Lebanese militias, had refused government demands to disarm in 1990.

However, the Bekaa Valley is a stronghold of the Islamist Hezbollah movement.

However, his appointment was reportedly opposed by the Shia Hezbollah movement which had close links with Iran.