In a grand manor house in northern Lebanon, eight men, all of them well-to-do professionals, had gathered to hear an important visitor talk about the war.
Their guest was late; the going had been heavy across the mountain from Beirut, north up the Bekaa valley and finally west along the flat, spotless, Iranian-made highway that leads to Hermel. Arriving from the bitter chill of a winter evening, he eased into a warm living room where the expectant men edged forward, addressing the new arrival by a nom de guerre widely known throughout Hezbollah, the powerful militant group he had joined more than 20 years ago.