Dexter Filkins: Can Hezbollah Survive the Syrian Crisis?: The New Yorker A REPORTER AT LARGE about Hezbollah's reaction to the Syrian crisis. Late last year, a memorial service was held for two young fighters from Hezbollah, who had been killed under murky circumstances. At the time of the service, Hezbollah had spent months denying that its men were crossing the border into Syria to fight for Bashar al-Assad's murderous regime. Yet evidence was mounting that they were. In an Arab world dominated by Sunni Muslims, Hezbollah agitates on behalf of Shiite identity - forming, along with Syria and Iran, a column of resistance sometimes called the Shiite Axis. With Syrian and Iranian help, Hezbollah has become the most powerful force in Lebanon. Too strong to be challenged even by the government, it has set up its own mini-state and built one of the world's most sophisticated guerrilla armies. It has kept up a relentless campaign to confront Israel, even provoking a war in 2006. Now the civil war in Syria is threatening to break the axis. Hezbollah could lose its main link to Iran if the regime of Assad fails. Describes the writer's visit to Mleeta, a fantastical theme park dedicated to Hezbollah's triumphs. Mentions the Rafik Hariri assassination in 2005. As Hezbollah solidifies its official power, anxiety over assassination still permeates Lebanon's political class. The issue of Hezbollah's role inside Syria raises fundamental questions about its identity and purpose. Is it really a "resistance" organization, dedicated only to fighting Israel? Siding with the Assad government has already left Hezbollah's secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah alone in the Arab world. Since the civil war ended, in 1990, the Lebanese political system has relied on an exquisite balance among the main groups, and on a measure of self-restraint on the part of each. The question for the future may be whether Hezbollah can restrain itself if it is threatened with a diminishment of its power.