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Israelis welcomed the victory of a Western-backed coalition in Lebanon’s elections, expressing hope that the political clout of Hezbollah had been blunted.

Lurking in the background, however, was the fear that Hezbollah might stir up trouble on Israel’s northern border in the wake of its electoral defeat.

“The moderate camp won. This is definitely a positive sign,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during a Labor faction meeting June 8. “But the real proof will be in the pudding, and mainly in the government’s ability to enforce order and prevent Hezbollah from continuing military actions in southern Lebanon and throughout Lebanon.

“Israel is continuing to monitor developments there and will determine its relations with the new Lebanese government on the basis of these results,” he added.

Official results released June 8 showed that the pro-Western coalition won 68 seats in the parliamentary elections June 7, with 57 for Hezbollah and its allies and three for independents. The results almost mirrored the breakdown in the outgoing parliament.

Israel had feared an outright victory by Hezbollah and its allies, which would have boosted the influence of the group’s Iranian and Syrian backers and possibly pushed Lebanon into more conflict with Israel.

The Associated Press reported June 9 that Saad Hariri, a billionaire businessman and the son of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was the frontrunner to lead the country’s new government. Hariri has been a vocal critic of Syria, which he has accused of being behind the killings of his father and other Lebanese politicians.

Knesset member Tzahi Hanegbi, chairman of the foreign affairs and defense committee, said initial indications from Lebanon were positive.

“We can say that after many years in which the leading trend in the Middle East was the clear strengthening of the radical camp, the camp that puts Israel and the U.S. in its crosshairs, then yesterday might have been a reversal of the trend,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

But President Shimon Peres said the election results “do not change the fact that the Hezbollah remains a country within a country, an army within an army, and that it prevents the economic recovery of Lebanon.”

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