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Hezbollah are heroes in Lebanese computer games

In a dimly lit, camouflaged room draped with flags of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, a group of men calmly fire rounds at the head of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But no one shoots back.

The room is in an Internet cafe adapted for marketing a computer game made by Hezbollah to reflect battles between the Israeli army and the group, which withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

Cafe owner Emad said he placed plastic rifles on the walls and stacked sandbags at the entrance to transform the room into a mock bunker to generate interest in the game. "We wanted to create a military atmosphere to complement the game. Guys like stuff like this," he said.

Eight-year-old Hussein Osman said he liked the game because it featured real fighters and "because it kills Israelis".

"I can be a resistance fighter, even though in real life I don't want to do that," he said.

Washington deems Hezbollah a "terrorist" group and blames it for the 1983 suicide bombings on its Marines barracks and Beirut embassy as well as kidnapping Westerners in the 1975-1990 civil war.

Hezbollah's Internet center created the game, Special Force, in commemoration of the battles of the Shi'ite Muslim group whose attacks helped force Israeli troops out of Lebanon.
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