The LATimes doesn't see Hezbollah's offensive in Lebanon as part of a permanent coup or power grab there, but as part of a larger offensive by Iran against Israel and the U.S. It also seems to be about putting the Sunnis in their place in Lebanon.

...few observers expect Hezbollah to try to take over Lebanon or even continue to police West Beirut, especially areas long dominated by its political rivals. The group's fighters avoided storming government buildings such as the Grand Serail, the gracious Ottoman-era palace that houses the prime minister.

Instead, the offensive was an "object lesson" meant to demonstrate the group's ability to quickly subdue its domestic rivals without exposing its arsenal of heavy weapons meant to target Israel in a potential war, said Boston University's Augustus Richard Norton, author of "Hezbollah: A Short History."

The conflict was triggered Tuesday when the government challenged Hezbollah's de facto autonomy by outlawing its strategic fiber-optic communications network. Hezbollah fighters responded by pushing into the heart of the capital from strongholds in south Beirut and southern Lebanon, an escalation in the political crisis that seemed to catch the Siniora administration by surprise.

Some of the government's major political backers appealed Friday night to the international community, the United Nations and other Arab countries for support. The crisis prompted calls for an emergency meeting Sunday among leaders of the Beirut government's Arab allies.


'Changing the equation'

"It's definitely changing the equation," said Oussama Safa, director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, a think tank. "Hezbollah is reshuffling the cards and redrawing the balance of power."

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has long vowed that the group would not turn its considerable arsenal of weapons on fellow Lebanese, though it has for at least a year been allowing proxy groups to do just that.

But he said he had no choice this time. He described the Cabinet decision to declare the group's private telecommunications network illegal a "declaration of war." He said it put the government in the camp of Israel, which Hezbollah fought to a standstill in a 2006 war that left more than 1,000 dead. Rather than wait for the government to try to enforce its decision, Hezbollah targeted the political powers behind it.

Government supporters called the move a coup d'etat meant to strangle Lebanon and bend it to Hezbollah's will.

"What happened in Beirut and its surroundings and in its international airport is an armed coup that was implemented by Hezbollah," said Samir Geagea, leader of the pro-Western branch of the Maronite Christian community.

For now, Hezbollah's offensive achieved one significant military goal: crushing the budding forces of Hariri's Sunni Future movement, a constellation of poorly trained and lightly equipped government supporters organized around neighborhood offices and private security companies run by retired army officers.

It also exposed the government's weak hand. Hezbollah was able to quickly take over the capital, its commanders rolling into town in late-model Chevrolet Suburbans -- and with the country's armed forces at times coordinating rather than impeding the militia's progress. Future movement fighters fled for their lives...

Update from Reuters:

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah fighters began withdrawing from Beirut on Saturday after the Lebanese army overturned government measures against the group, witnesses said.

They said gunmen, who had taken over the capital after routing pro-government supporters on Friday, were being driven out of Beirut's seaside front and other areas. Lebanese soldiers were seen patrolling the streets evacuated by Hezbollah and its allies