Hizballah Returns to a Dangerous Business

The group's plans to go into politics fizzled. Now it's back to doing what it does best: scaring Israel

Call it cyberjihad. With his nubby oatmeal sweater, blue jeans and easy smile, Malek Hussein might seem more at home sipping a latte in Seattle than sugary tea in Beirut's Shi'ite Muslim stronghold. But the 38-year-old self-taught Webmaster is holed up in a secret office where the Lebanese Islamic group Hizballah operates an Internet site that blasts propaganda against Israel. With a four-person staff, Hussein is fending off a hacker assault launched by Israelis. "They're going after us!" proclaims Hussein, who loads software designed to deflect the bulk messages that become e-mail bombs when they reach Hizballah's Web address.

After a...

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