Only six months after the war with Israel ended with a U.N. resolution and 12,000 international peacekeeping troops, Hizbullah is digging in north of south Lebanon‘s Litani River, adjacent to the area patrolled by UNIFIL. The Times of London is reporting that a Lebanese businessman loyal to Hizbullah is paying cash to buy land owned by Druze and Christians that will serve as a safe staging area for Hizbullah forces along the Litani controlled by Shi’ites. The Times quoted Druze leader Walid Jumblatt as saying that, “The state of Hizbollah is already in existence in south Lebanon.” The report claims that Hizbollah is building a new system of fortifications and expanding old positions in the mountains on the northern bank of the Litani. It was from these positions that long-range rockets were fired into Israel during last summer’s war. There have been numerous reports that Hizbullah’s current aresnal exceeds that with which it went to war. Jumblatt told The Times that he suspected Iran was funding the fortification project.