Lara Marlowe, in Tyre, meets a Lebanese Shia widow who is a staunch supporter of Hizbullah
A woman of less cheerful disposition might have wept.
Three-quarters of Insaf al-Dirani's neighbours have fled, to escape the Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon. The Shia Muslim district of Beirut was under attack again, after a week's respite. One hundred and sixteen Lebanese have been buried in the mass grave down the road from Mrs al-Dirani's apartment building, and 93 more bodies wait in the morgue.
When Mrs al-Dirani, a widow, invited me for tea yesterday, the Israelis were lobbing artillery shells onto the Naqoura road and Bourj al-Shemali, a short walk from her home on the southern outskirts of Tyre.
The racket of fighter-bombers and drones never subsided.
Perhaps only a Lebanese Shia could find cause for joy, between a mass grave and the front line.
Joyous she was; positively bubbling. "I am very happy, because we are winning," the 60-year-old former nurse explained.
Overnight the mood changed here. Hizbullah had launched a record number of rockets at Israel the previous day - more than 230 - but most of all, the Shia Muslim guerrilla movement had held out for three weeks, and they're still fighting.
But the damage . . . I said.
"Malesh!" (Doesn't matter!) Mrs al-Dirani exclaimed. "This is the price. Everything has a price, and the price of victory is blood. If you buy something from a shop, you pay for it. The price of land is blood.
"This is the first time that Israel is being defeated," she continued.
Defeated? The destruction of Lebanon continues, and the television that is always on in Mrs al-Dirani's living room reported multiple ground incursions by some 6,000 Israeli soldiers.
"Even if Lebanon is destroyed, Israel is defeated," my hostess insisted. "For the first time, their big cities are being hit.
"They haven't been able to advance on the ground. If they are brave, let them face Hassan Nasrallah's men."
No one in Mrs al-Dirani's immediate family is a fighter. Her late husband was a teacher. Two of her sons are medical doctors. Her youngest children, Ziad (27) and Mouna (21) are studying geography and English literature at university. They are part of the Shia middle-class which is solidly behind Hizbullah.
"Every day we destroy five Merkava tanks on the border!" Mrs al-Dirani says, carried away with exaggeration. "The most important thing is that Hassan Nasrallah enjoys victory. If Hassan Nasrallah wills it, we are ready for our home to be destroyed today."
"Be careful what you say, Mom," her son Ziad interrupts, only half-joking.
To Hizbullah supporters, secretary general Hassan Nasrallah is more than a hero. "He's an idol," says Mouna, the daughter. "He's so self-confident. We trust him. Israel will count to a million before they attack Lebanon again. They are suffering."
Ziad continues the effusive praise of the Shia leader. "He knows his enemies very well. He second-guesses them."
According to a profile in L'Orient Le Jour newspaper, Nasrallah has spent a great deal of time studying liberation movements around the world.
Mrs al-Dirani tells of an interview on al-Manar, the Hizbullah television station founded by Nasrallah: "She was a woman with long hair, not wearing hijab (the veil). She said, 'After the war, I want a robe of Hassan Nasrallah, to smell the sweat, because he wore this robe when he was defending us. I want it to be cut into pieces and distributed to people here, to give them pride and dignity'." Nasrallah's son Hadi was killed at age 18, fighting the Israelis.
Nasrallah did not allow himself to weep when receiving condolences. "My son was incredibly fortunate to die as a martyr," he told mourners. "I may suffer personally, but for the country, I am happy."
"After his son Hadi was killed on the battlefield," Ziad recounts, "Nasrallah took the weapons and gave them to another son. I am sure that the sons of the government ministers are in London, Paris and New York now. But the sons of Hizbullah are here, fighting."
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert claims the war has turned people against Hizbullah. "Olmert's an idiotic idiot," says Mrs al-Dirani. "If people didn't love Hassan Nasrallah before, they love him now. Not only in Lebanon, but in the whole Arab world."
Every few days, Nasrallah records a televised message, mocking the US and Israel for thinking they can destroy Hizbullah. The al-Diranis watch all the Lebanese and Arabic television stations - "so we can see who supports us," explains Ziad.
They like the Qatari station al-Jazeera best. "If you watch al-Manar (Hizbullah's station), you'd think we were already in al-Qods (Jerusalem)," Ziad continues. "If you watch LBC (the Maronite station), you'd think the Israelis were already in Beirut."
The al-Diranis insist that if Israel returned the occupied "Shebaa Farms" to Lebanon and freed Lebanese prisoners, they would have no more quarrel with the Jewish state.
They believe Israel covets all Arab land "between the Euphrates and the Nile" - the equivalent of Israelis claiming that Arabs "want to drive us into the sea."
I briefly wonder whether Hizbullah's welfare programmes might explain the widow al-Dirani's fervour. "Hizbullah helps people who don't have money," Ziad says, almost insulted. "We have jobs."
"I give Hizbullah 10,000 Lebanese pounds (€5.50) every month," says Mrs al-Dirani. If I could give them more, I would."
Iran, she says, "is a friend to us. And they are helping Hizbullah." Ziad explains Iran's hold over Lebanese Shia.
"Iran is the only country where the Shia are in power. I like all the Iranian leaders. They have made Iran a strong country, and they don't do what Israel and the US tell them."
Brother and sister disagree on the advisability of Hizbullah giving up its weapons to a stronger Lebanese army, and on Syria's meddling in Lebanese politics, perhaps reflecting internal debate within Hizbullah. As for talk of a multinational force, probably based here, they entrust the decision to Hizbullah: "Whatever Hizbullah wants I agree with," says Mrs al-Dirani.
"They know what is best for Lebanon."