Inside Hizballah

By Lev Grossman, Barbara Maddux

Alexandra Avakian made three trips to Lebanon in 2005, with the daunting ambition of getting closer to Hizballah than any Western photojournalist before her. She expected to be assigned an escort, but none was necessary. "Party discipline is so tight, no one was going to reveal any secrets," says Avakian. "Members have to report on all the contacts they have with outsiders." She was allowed to see each of her subjects only once, and she was stopped a few times. "Out of nowhere a security agent appeared on a motorcycle," she recalls. "One time my digital camera was taken and photos deleted." Even so, she found her subjects to be gracious and accommodating, often permitting a 15-min. session to stretch into 12 hours. One man she met was a former guerrilla who had lost an arm, a leg and part of his sight in a firefight with Israeli soldiers; his brother died as well. "I lay there for four hours," he recalled. "When I felt I would be martyred, I felt true happiness. I have never felt that again in my life."