Does Hezbollah Hide and Operate Among Civilians?

A frequent retort to the high - over 600 now - casualty count is that it is because Hezbollah uses civilians as "shields" by operating among them. I had seen enough reports of attacks on non-Hezbollah related targets to question the story that they are ONLY bombing Hezbollah but also punishing Lebanon into disassociating from Hezbollah (Like that will work!!)

That retort always seemed weak, but I had always assumed that it was certainly true that Hezbollah purposely operated among civilians. This article in Salon by Mitch Prothero flips that conventional wisdom, calling it a "myth." I'm not sure what to think anymore. Perhaps if there were more people saying this than him.

But then there IS the fact that very few Hezbollah fighters have been killed during the conflict, and there have been tons of civilians killed. You'd think there would be more dead Hezbollah if so many of them hid among the civilians.

Of course, this does not give me any more sympathy for Hezbollah, they are nothing but a curse for Lebanon and I hope their power and sway diminishes in Lebanon though it seems this conflict is doing nothing but give Hezbollah a HUGE boost among Lebanese and the wider Middle East. I know I say it a lot but...Israel and the US is run by morons.

"The hiding among civilians myth"

Excerpt:

"The handful of people in the town include some from Hezbollah's political wing, as well as volunteers keeping an eye on things while the residents are gone. Off to the side, as we watch the Israelis pummel ridgelines on the outskirts of town, one of the political operatives explains that the fighters never come near the town, reinforcing what other Hezbollah people have told me over the years."

"Although Israel targets apartments and offices because they are considered "Hezbollah" installations, the group has a clear policy of keeping its fighters away from civilians as much as possible. This is not for humanitarian reasons -- they did, after all, take over an apartment building against the protests of the landlord, knowing full well it would be bombed -- but for military ones."

"You can be a member of Hezbollah your entire life and never see a military wing fighter with a weapon," a Lebanese military intelligence official, now retired, once told me. "They do not come out with their masks off and never operate around people if they can avoid it. They're completely afraid of collaborators. They know this is what breaks the Palestinians -- no discipline and too much showing off."

Is this propaganda? Who knows?