A Jordanian poll published Thursday indicated that 84 percent of Lebanese believe that the recent conflict in southern Lebanon was a premeditated attempt by the United States and Israel to impose a new Middle East order.

But respondents to the survey differ along religious lines over who won the conflict.

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The study, conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan, showed that a majority of those polled thought the war was initiated by Israel and the U.S. in an effort to reshape the region into a "new Middle East," while 13 percent of respondents disagreed.

The survey revealed that Lebanon's numerous religious sects diverge over who emerged triumphant.

The poll sample of 1,200 Lebanese included Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze. The margin of error was 2-3 per cent, said Mohammad Masri, a fellow at the CSS, which conducts surveys analysing major events in the region.

Seventy per cent of Shiites, the religious group most affected by the violence, said the Hezbollah militia came out as victor, while only 36 per cent of Sunnis and 19 per cent of Christians believed Hezbollah won.

Among the Druze, a religious community overwhelmingly living in the Chouf Mountains, 82 per cent believed Lebanon was the biggest loser. Christians follow closely behind at 73 per cent.

"The Druze are basically a united bloc. They blame the Syrians and Iranians for the war," Masri said.

"The Shiites also presented a unified opinion, but they instead sided with Hezbollah and blame an American-Israeli blueprint of a new Middle East for starting the conflict," he added.

Differences across religious lines were also highlighted over Hezbollah's capture of Israel Defense Forces soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser on July 12, the most-cited reason for sparking the 34-day war.

The majority of Shiite respondents agreed that Hezbollah's capture of the soldiers was justified, while the majority of Druze disagreed.

Stuck in the middle of these two groups were the Christians and Sunnis, who appear more divided about their opinions of the conflict.

"There tend to be multiple poles of opinions among these two groups," Masri said, referring to internal disputes between rival political figures in each of the two religious blocs.

Taken as a whole, half of all respondents believed that Lebanon came out as the biggest loser and 37 per cent say Israel emerged defeated. But, surprisingly, 78 per cent believe that the war would have happened whether Hezbollah captured the Israeli soldiers or not.