WASHINGTON (AP) - The recent war between Israel and Hezbollah guerillas cost the United States dearly in the eyes of Lebanese, a poll taken just over a month after the violence found.

Part of the Gallup World Poll project, the survey released Tuesday compared findings from its latest canvass, in August, 2005. In almost every category, the United States was the big loser. Nearly two-thirds of the Lebanese - 64 percent - who said their opinions of the United States were worse after the month of fighting than before.

Almost half those polled described their opinions as "much worse" after the war in which Israel's mainly U.S-equipped military did substantial damage to Lebanese villages, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

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Lebanon has 4 million people, 17 religious sects, an educated class and a free-market economy. Historically its people have endured the wars of alien armies passed through a devastating civil war of their own from 1975 to 1990. More than 1,000 Lebanese, mainly civilians, died in this summer's war.

In the 2005 Gallup poll, Lebanese attitudes toward the United States were 39 percent favorable and 42 percent unfavorable, roughly and even split given the poll's 3 percentage point margin of sampling error.

The postwar poll released Tuesday showed Lebanese twice as likely to hold
unfavorable opinions of the United States, 59 percent unfavorable to 28 percent favorable. Almost half the unfavorable described their views of the United States as "very negative."

Lebanese even took their dismay over the Americans to the extent that the
United States was blamed as the country with the single greatest level of
responsibility for the Israeli-Hezbollah war by 24 percent of the respondents. No country except Israel itself was judged more at fault: the Israelis were blamed by 40 percent of Lebanese.

The poll also looked at countries the Lebanese admired. Rated on a 5-point scale from "very favorable" as 5 to "very unfavorable" as 1, France, once Lebanon's colonial ruler, was the most admired among 13 nations with a 3.6, with Canada at 3.5. The only countries below the midpoint 2.5 were the United States at 2.3, Britain 2.2 and Pakistan 2.0.

The poll taken nationwide of 1,000 adults 18 and over was conducted between September 18 and October 12 in all parts of the country except some wartorn southern regions. The sampling error is plus or minus 3 percent.