Israelis on Lebanon border worriedly await next war

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel, Sep 27 (Reuters) The hotels in northern Israel have reopened. Travellers are slowly trickling back and workers are patching up homes hit by Hizbollah rockets.

Yet along Israel's scenic border with Lebanon, there is a sense of foreboding. Of waiting for the next war with the Hizbollah guerrilla group, or worse, its patron Iran.

Those fears have grown as the Israeli army prepares to pull out of southern Lebanon, perhaps in a matter of days, handing over all captured territory to international forces that few here believe will keep Hizbollah under control.

''We don't feel safer. There are still thousands of rockets aimed at us,'' said Raz Flusman, 30, co-founder of a computer shop in the border town of Kiryat Shmona, where nearly 1,000 Hizbollah missiles landed during the month-long war.

''If you took all the weapons away from Arab countries, you would have peace. If you took all weapons away from Israel, one minute later we would be gone.'' Israel has been in a dark mood since the Lebanon war ended in a UN-sponsored truce on August. 14.

Israelis have lost faith in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the military leadership because the army failed to crush Hizbollah. Many feel Israel's ability to deter other regional enemies from mischief, especially Iran, was badly dented.

Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's statement last week at a rally in Beirut that his group still had 20,000 rockets and would not disarm added to the insecurity.

''It's a bad feeling here,'' said Reuven Wineberg, owner of the Alaska Inn hotel in the village of Metula, where homes in southern Lebanon are visible from his roof.

''For sure it will happen again. If we are lucky it will be in a couple of years. If not, it could be tomorrow,'' added Wineberg, 52, sitting in the office of his small hotel, answering the phone that occasionally rings on his desk.

TROOP PULLOUT The latest war erupted when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on July 12. The conflict killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

To try to stop Hizbollah launching rockets, Israel sent tens of thousands of ground troops into southern Lebanon. It also launched aerial attacks on bridges, roads and infrastructure.

Those soldiers remaining in southern Lebanon could pull out within days, putting a beefed up United Nations force and the Lebanese army in control of the entire area.

Israelis appear ambivalent about troops returning home, wanting them out of a foreign country but afraid Hizbollah will use the opportunity to prepare for fresh attacks.

''Even if the peacekeepers don't do a good job, we should not be there, it just inflames things,'' said Netta Reches, 34, a craft shop owner in Metula.

While Nasrallah made headlines with his appearance at last Friday's rally in Beirut, the name on everyone's lips in northern Israel is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president who has called for Israel to be ''wiped off the map''.

A poll last week showed a majority of Israelis say Iran and its nuclear programme is their biggest worry.

Iran says it is seeking nuclear power, not weapons. Israel itself neither admits nor denies having nuclear weapons, but is believed to have around 200 atomic bombs.

''Iran for us is very dangerous,'' said Benny Daniel, 25, as he guarded a house damaged by a rocket in Kiryat Shmona. The owners have moved to a nearby hotel while repairs are done.

''Everyone in Kiryat Shmona thinks it's just a matter of time before war breaks out again.'' REUTERS AB RK2001