"Hezbollah took a major blow in the war and is far from returning to its previous condition," GOC Northern Command Major General Gadi Eisenkot said Tuesday when he toured the northern border with Vice Premier Shimon Peres.

Peres was briefed by Eisenkot before joining him on a patrol of the eastern sector of the border, near Misgav, Metula, the ascent to Har Dov and the Tulip outpost. They stopped to look at the deployment of United Nations and Lebanese soldiers on the other side of the border. Peres asked for information about Hezbollah's deployment and rearmament efforts since last summer's war.

Peres said he was aware that weapons were being smuggled to Hezbollah, "but having arms isn't the same as having power," the vice premier said. "The problem isn't the weapons, it's how Hezbollah is being directed."

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Eisenkot said that although the situation is not a simple one, it has changed for the better since the war. "Hezbollah positions that were once deployed along the border have been destroyed, the Lebanese Army and UN forces are deployed throughout the border area in South Lebanon. Israel is exercising its sovereignty down to the last meter," Eisenkot said.

After meeting with IDF officers, Peres said, "according to the intelligence assessments available to the IDF, Syria has no offensive intentions. Any change in the movement of forces or their dimensions is related to defensive redeployment." Peres added that arms shipments to Hezbollah via Syria are continuing. "There is a route for transfering
knowledge, weapons and terror agents, and the route passes through Iran, Syria and Hezbollah," Peres said.

"Hezbollah is operating clandestinely now, 'in mufti,'" Eisenkot said, "and they don't walk around armed in the villages. The IDF destroyed all the Hezbollah positions along the border. I am not ignoring the rearmament and the desire to redeploy against Israel, but we must take into consideration the presence of UN and Lebanese forces."