BEIRUT, Lebanon - Pride among Lebanese in surviving the war with Israel has given way to questioning why it all happened, with measures of blame heaped on Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militia that triggered the conflict.

During most of the 33 days of combat, national unity overshadowed unease among many Lebanese about Hezbollah's autonomous armed force. Concern has resurfaced as Lebanon faces the reality of damage to houses, roads and its economy.

``Do I have to pay for someone else's adventure?'' said Abdel Rahman Soubri, 52, a construction worker in Haret Hreik, a heavily bombed, mostly Shiite district of Beirut. Soubri, a Sunni Muslim, said he wasn't protesting from a sectarian point of view. He complained that other militias from Lebanon's turbulent past had given up arms, and Hezbollah should, too. ``Doesn't Hezbollah ever get tired of shooting?'' he asked.

Such views among the Lebanese public -- and among other political groupings in the country -- are calling into question Hezbollah's future place in Lebanon's fractured political landscape, and as a model for other Islamic movements in the Middle East.

Shiite criticism of the movement is harder to come by; many continue to laud Hezbollah for its military prowess. ``The results are simple for us,'' said Samaar Sayeed, 28, a mother of a young boy. ``Israel will not be in Lebanon anymore.''

Even so, Shiites too face a long process of rebuilding their homes and livelihoods. ``Our leader got us into this,'' said a women who identified herself only as Umm Ali, which means Ali's mother. ``Let's see them fix it.''

Deaths and Damage

Hezbollah ignited the conflict when it abducted two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid. During the war, Hezbollah guerrillas foiled Israel's expressed goals of disarming and dismantling the militia. The count of Lebanese fatalities topped 1,000, and about 130,000 houses and buildings were damaged. Government officials estimate the cost of reconstruction at $3.5 billion.

Lebanon had been debating Hezbollah's military role since Israel ended its 17-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah, a political party whose militia dates from the 1980s, waged a war of attrition against the Israeli forces. The party and its militia are supported by Syria and Iran, and accused by the United States and Israel of masterminding terrorist operations.

While two United Nations Security Council Resolutions -- in 2004 and this year -- call for Hezbollah to be disarmed, the group's leaders argue that its weapons are needed to protect the border region. Rival parties in Lebanon counter that only the central government can take responsibility for the nation's defense, and that Hezbollah is an Iranian tool.

Danger for Lebanon

The danger for Lebanon, which was split by civil war from 1975 to 1990, lies in the possible repercussions of these competing views, according to Joseph Bahout, a professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.

``Lebanese have a very costly and painful experience with opposing narratives, with stories of one party's triumph turning out to be another's debacle,'' Bahout wrote in the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper. ``When an entire sector of society is depicted as having a deeply different sense of belonging, identity and collective goals and when that sector is moreover accused of being a hostile foreigner's proxy, then the `enemy within' has arrived and strife is not very far away.''

Nasrallah's Interview

Lebanese analysts say that Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah indirectly acknowledged evolving opinions of the war within the country in a Lebanese television interview Aug. 27. Referring to the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers, he said, ``Had I known that capturing the soldiers would lead to this result, I never would have done it.''

His comments unleashed criticism from rival Lebanese politicians, and he modified them in an interview with the as- Safir newspaper published Sept. 5. ``I say we did not make a mistake in judgment,'' Nasrallah said. ``Our calculations were correct, and we do not regret it.''

Nasrallah warned against efforts ``to tarnish the image of victory gradually by means of provocation until it is permanently destroyed.''

That left supporters in the unaccustomed position of offering up spin: Was Nasrallah was repentant or not? ``He was just reminding that Israel was responsible for the damage,'' said Naim Bilal, a member of Hezbollah's Islamic Institution for Education and Teaching.

`Didn't Want All This'

``No, Nasrallah's first comment was an admission,'' said Gebran Bassil, a member of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party that is allied politically with Hezbollah, ``He didn't want all this to happen.''

In any case, political rivals took Nasrallah to task. Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon's Druze minority criticized Hezbollah's raid into Israel and argued that Hezbollah is too beholden to Iran to give up its weapons and take a purely political role in Lebanon.

``Do they really want a Lebanese state or do they want an open battlefield that would serve Iran's interests?'' Jumblatt asked in an Aug. 31 interview on al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based television news network.

Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat, while steering clear of criticizing Hezbollah, acknowledged that the glow is fading from its military achievements. ``Hezbollah could become less influential,'' he said in an interview. ``In a few weeks, even Shiites might be asking where all this warfare got them.''

Arab Reaction

Censure of Hezbollah in Lebanon has jump-started negative media commentary in other Arab countries. Even as Hezbollah's military prowess electrified large parts of the Arab population, it horrified governments that feared being drawn into war. Monarchies and secular dictatorships in the Middle East are also contending with Islamic political movements that challenge their right to govern.

``As much as we salute the leader of the resistance for his courage and honesty, we must blame those who sought to falsify facts and considered the recent conflict a heroic act, strategic choice and a war for freedom and liberation,'' Abdul Rahman Al- Rashed, general manager of al-Arabiya, wrote in a-Sharq al-Awsat, a newspaper funded by Saudi Arabia.

``It is important that Arab citizens become aware of the difference between political fraud and facts on the ground,'' he said. ''Those who cheered the war and attacked those who sought to discuss it are leading the nation to more destruction.''

Timor Goksel, who for 20 years served as spokesman for United Nations peacekeepers in south Lebanon and now teaches at the American University of Beirut, said he considers what Lebanese think to be a better gauge of Hezbollah's future than outside Arab opinion.

``Winning the Arab street won't mean anything to Hezbollah if it loses its appeal in Lebanon,'' said Goksel, who retired in 2003. ``Hezbollah doesn't have an easy road here.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Williams in Beirut at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .