News Brief13:07 PM

(IsraelNN.com) Hizbullah could easily defeat the Lebanese army and take over the country if it were to use its weapons, according to Timor Goksel, former spokesman for United Nations Interim Forces (UNIFIL). He told the San Francisco Chronicle, "There is no civil authority in the country now. If they [Hizbullah] had used their weapons during the clashes, tomorrow there would be no army and no country."

Lebanon was under a tense calm Wednesday as Arab League officials arrived to try to put an end to clashes between the Hizbullah-pro-Syria alliance and the anti-Syrian government. At least 81 people have been killed in the latest round of fighting that broke out last week.

The Hizbullah takeover of Sunni strongholds and a Druze village has given the terrorist organization a de facto dominance in the country without having to resort to a political purge.