Hezbollah, also known as The Party of God, is a radical Shi’a Muslim group fighting against Israel and “Western imperialism” in Lebanon. The group does not recognize the legitimacy of Israel, and it has been labeled as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department since October 1997.

Hezbollah has multiple titles, including the “Organization of the Oppressed on Earth” and the “Revolutionary Justice Organization.” Its main goal is to establish an Islamic government across the Arab world that will “liberate” Jerusalem and the entire area of the present-day State of Israel.

Before Hezbollah joined the fighting after the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel, Israeli intelligence estimated Hezbollah had amassed a stockpile of 150,000 rockets, including missiles capable of striking every major Israeli city.

Founding & First Lebanon War (1982-2000)
Building its Arsenal (2000-2005)
Second Lebanon War & Aftermath
Policies & Politics
Operations
Leadership
Ideology & Support
Activities Around the World
Hezbollah in Latin America
Attacks on Americans
Hezbollah in America
Al-Qard al-Hassan: Hezbollah’s Financial Backbone
Drug Smuggling to Fund Terrorism
Syrian Civil War
U.S. Policy
U.S. Courts Order Payments to Victims
Other Developments in Lebanon
A New Tactic
Foreign Governments Take Action
Lebanese Tiring of Iranian Interference
The Next War
Updating Its Arsenal
The Gaza War
Ceasefire
Hezbollah Loses Power
Lebanese Government to Disarm Hezbollah
Hezbollah Rebuilds

Founding & First Lebanon War (1982-2000)

Hezbollah’s origins and ideology stem from the Iranian Revolution. The revolution called for a religious Muslim government representing the oppressed and downtrodden. Iran wanted an alternative to the Shi’ite Amal movement, which refused to accept strict political and religious obedience to Ayatollah Khomeini, to establish that government in Lebanon. Toward the end of 1982, Iran sent fighters from its Revolutionary Guard Corps to assist in establishing a revolutionary Islamic movement in Lebanon. Led by religious clerics, the organization wanted to adopt an Iranian doctrine as a solution to Lebanese political malaise. This doctrine included the use of terror as a means of attaining political objectives. Iran hoped that the group would participate in the jihad against Israel. These forces, located in the area of Ba’albek in the northern Beqa’a valley, brought Iranian-Islamic influence to the area and constituted the core of the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon.

According to Hezbollah, the United States was to blame for many of the country’s problems. Israel was seen as an extension of the United States and an unwanted foreign power in Lebanon. As the organizational infrastructure developed, Hezbollah established an extensive military network in the Ba’albek area with Iranian and Syrian assistance. Its militias later spread into the Shi’ite neighborhoods in southern and western Beirut and southern Lebanon. These areas also offer a base for recruiting additional activists and fighters among the local Shi’ite populations.

After Israel’s war in Lebanon, the organization gained strength as it fought against the presence of French and American peacekeepers who remained in Lebanon after Israeli forces withdrew from Beirut. In 1985, the IDF withdrew from Lebanon, except for a security zone created to protect Israel’s northern border. Israeli troops worked with the South Lebanese Army for the next five years to defend the border. Meanwhile, Hezbollah stockpiled weapons and recruited many new members to drive the Israelis out of Lebanon.

To gain support from the local population in South Lebanon, Hezbollah donated money, equipment, and medical supplies. In October 1997, the U.S. State Department added Hezbollah to its list of terrorist organizations.

Following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah continued to mount terrorist operations against Israel. It accused Israel of holding Shaba’a farmlands (which Israel and the UN agree are not part of Lebanon) and refusing to release Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.

In response, Hezbollah kidnapped three IDF soldiers with the help of a UN peacekeeping force. A prisoner swap was not agreed upon until 2004, four years after the kidnapping.

Building its Arsenal (2000-2005)

The “Al-Aqsa intifada” in Israel created additional opportunities for Hezbollah to perform acts of violence against the Jewish state. The organization funded the Palestinian Authority (PA) and collaborated with other terrorist organizations, including Hamas, to systematize attacks on Israel. It stepped up its recruitment to infiltrate Israel’s international borders. It also continued smuggling arms and advanced weapons into Lebanon from Syria, Iran, and the PA.

In 2002, the IDF intercepted a Palestinian Authority-owned ship, the Karine-A, carrying 50 tons of weapons, including anti-tank missiles, Katyusha rockets, and long-range mortars. Many of the weapons were made in Iran. A senior Hezbollah member was responsible for loading the weapons onto the ship.

During this time, Iran and Syria financially supported Hezbollah, facilitating its military growth to help it fight Israel with more precision and lethality.

Second Lebanon War & Aftermath

On July 12, 2006, the military and financial support that Hezbollah had been receiving from Iran and Syria were put to the test when its guerrillas attacked an IDF patrol on the Israel-Lebanon border and abducted two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Simultaneously, Hezbollah units inside Lebanon began firing katyusha rockets to pound northern Israel and create panic and fear.

After more than a weeklong artillery and air fire campaign to suppress Hezbollah targets, the IDF invaded southern Lebanon at the end of July to destroy Hezbollah’s military capability and kill as many of its terrorists and fighters as possible. Though the war is widely considered to have ended in a stalemate, with neither side producing a decisive victory, Israel maintains that it killed nearly 600 Hezbollah guerrillas and destroyed tons of their illegal weaponry.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah mentioned in various interviews that he did not expect such a high-level response and invasion by the IDF following the initial attack but that he believes his forces acted heroically and not only withstood the Israeli assault but inflicted damage, killing more than 120 Israeli soldiers.

In the aftermath of the month-long war in 2006, the United Nations was tasked with maintaining a UNIFIL force both on Israel’s border with Lebanon to prevent future skirmishes and on Lebanon’s border with Syria to prevent further arms smuggling into the Hezbollah stronghold areas. Unfortunately, UNIFIL’s mission has been compromised either by a lack of desire on the part of its soldiers to interfere or a lack of ability to stop the smuggling.

Israeli intelligence now believes that Hezbollah has completely rearmed itself from the 2006 war and has even enhanced its weapons stock further, despite UNIFIL’s presence. It is believed that Hezbollah’s weapons stores hold at least 10,000 Katyusha and other short to medium-range rockets. In January 2012, the IDF further updated its operational assessment of Hezbollah to say that it believed the terrorist organization now had long-range surface-to-air missile systems imported from Syria that could match Israel’s aerial dominance. The upheaval in Syria during the winter of 2011/2012 enabled Hezbollah to obtain weapons systems and other Russian-made air-defense units.

While Hezbollah is known to have a large quantity of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, the IDF now assumes that the Lebanese Islamist group has received the SA-8, a truck-mounted Russian tactical surface-to-air missile system reported to have a range of about 20 miles. In addition to the possible transfer of air-defense systems, Hezbollah is believed to have received several dozen more M600 long-range missiles and an additional 302 mm. Khaibar-1 rockets have a range of about 62 miles.

In November 2013, security officials learned that Hezbollah had nearly 200 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), including those that can track movement from high altitudes and “kamikazes” that can avoid capture by radar and fire or drop munitions from low heights.

On October 7, 2014, an explosive device was detonated on the Israel-controlled side of the Israeli-Lebanon border. Hezbollah immediately took responsibility for the attack less than 4 hours after it happened, which is surprising considering their record of denying any aggression against Israel that they have been accused of. This marked the first time Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack against Israel since the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The explosive device was detonated near Sheeba Farms, an area that Lebanon believes is unrightfully occupied by Israel and that Syria also claims the rights to. The explosion seriously injured 2 Israeli soldiers and was supposedly a retaliatory attack in response to an incident on Sunday in which IDF soldiers witnessed individuals attempting to cross from Lebanon illegally into Israel. The IDF soldiers opened fire at these individuals and caused them to retreat to Lebanese territory. According to Lebanese sources, this is not how the confrontation proceeded, and they claim that Israeli soldiers fired on their military positions, injuring one soldier. IDF spokesman Lt Colonel Peter Lerner said this attack was a “blatant breach of Israel’s sovereignty.” In response to this attack, the Israeli military fired artillery at two Hezbollah positions in Southern Lebanon; no injuries were reported.

In a rare televised appearance on November 4, 2014, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned of a third Lebanon war and stated that Israel should close “all of your airports and your ports” in the event of a third Lebanon war. Nasrallah threatened Israel and claimed that “there is no place on the land of occupied Palestine that the resistance’s rockets cannot reach.”

Israeli warplanes struck multiple positions in Damascus on December 7, 2014, to thwart weapons transfers to Hezbollah in Lebanon. These strikes hit a storage facility that was housing anti-aircraft missiles and drone fighters that were going to be sold to Hezbollah.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven more injured when their military convoy was attacked while driving along the Israeli side of the Lebanese border in the area of Shebaa Farms on January 28, 2015. The soldiers’ names were released the following day: Captain Yohai Kalangel and Sergeant Dor Nini. Israeli forces stationed at Mount Hermon were also fired upon. It is thought that the attack was carried out as a response to an Israeli air strike inside of Syria the week before that killed five Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general. Hezbollah immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and that the Quneitra Martyrs Brigade had fired the rockets at the Israelis.

Shortly after the initial attack, the Hezbollah militants fired more mortar shells at Israeli military positions near the border, but no injuries were reported. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to social media and explained that Israeli forces had responded to the attacks with “combined aerial and ground strikes” on Hezbollah positions. This exchange represented the most serious development in Lebanon-Israel relations in years. Israeli Lt. Colonel Peter Lerner referred to the situation as “a severe escalation” on Israel’s northern border. Military battalions from Israel returned fire, and missiles were being lobbed back and forth across the wall during the afternoon. By the following day, tensions had eased, and the situation had resolved. This attack was condemned with harsh words in a statement from State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki. Psaki reminded the world that “Hezbollah continues to incite violence and instability inside Lebanon by attacking Israel and by its presence and fighting inside Syria” and extended her condolences to the victim’s families. The following day, Israeli officials received correspondence from a United Nations peacekeeping force operating in Lebanon, claiming that Hezbollah was not interested in any further escalation of conflict. Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon responded, “Until the area completely calms down, the Israel Defense Forces will remain prepared and ready.”

Following the January 2015 attack, Israeli security forces began drilling deep around the perimeter fences meant to keep the border communities safe, looking for Hezbollah infiltration tunnels. Although residents claimed to have heard noises from underneath their homes, and security officials are convinced that Hezbollah is planning for their next attack, no tunnels were found. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Benny Gantz made it clear that Israeli border towns need to be better protected from these threats and asked for more funding for the IDF to cover these vulnerable areas in the days after the attack.

On February 16, 2015, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged for the first time that Hezbollah had sent fighters into Iraq to combat the Islamic State. During the taped speech, Nasrallah encouraged Arab states in the region to fight the Islamic State aligned with Hezbollah and to abandon their US allies. It had been reported that Hezbollah had been sending fighters into Iraq to combat the Islamic State since mid-2014. Still, this speech represents the first time that Hezbollah leaders have acknowledged the existence of these fighters.

The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Communities removed Hezbollah and Iran from its list of terrorism threats for the first time in recent history in February 2015. The assessment, presented to the U.S. Senate by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, detailed how Iran had “intentions to dampen sectarianism, build responsive partners, and de-escalate tensions with Saudi Arabia” during the past year. Iran and Hezbollah were still listed in the Defense Intelligence Agency’s terrorism threat assessment.

Four individuals from Syria approached the Syria-Israel border armed with ammunition and explosives under cover of darkness on April 25, 2015. Israeli security services spotted these individuals attempting to set up explosive devices on the border fence. The Israeli Air Force was informed of this suspicious activity, and all four individuals were killed in an air strike soon after they were spotted. It was assumed after the attempted attack that these terrorists were members of Hezbollah.

The Saudi-owned satellite company Arabsat dropped Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station from its broadcasts in December 2015. Arabsat was not the first provider to drop the Hezbollah channel, but it is one of the largest. The Al-Manar station is banned in France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, and Australia and is classified on the U.S. Specially Designated Global Terrorist list. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar channel is still broadcast around the globe by Egypt’s Nilesat, Russia’s Express, and Indonesia’s Indosat.

Hezbollah fighters set off a large explosive device as an Israeli armored convoy drove past near the Lebanon border on January 4, 2015. No casualties were sustained in the explosion. The attack was in retaliation for the killing of Samir Kantar, a prominent Lebanese militant fighter who was killed in Syria in December 2015. The IDF responded with targeted artillery fire against Hezbollah outposts.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officially recognized Hezbollah as a terrorist organization on March 1, 2015. According to a spokesperson, the action was prompted by Hezbollah attempting to recruit fighters and smuggle weapons and drugs within GCC states.

Prominent Hezbollah leader Mustafa Amine Badreddine was killed in an alleged air strike near Damascus airport in early May 2016. Badreddine was a well-respected member of the organization who was believed to have been behind all of Hezbollah’s activities in Syria since 2011.

In a periodic report on the implementation of UN resolution 1701 released in March 2017, Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres argued that recent statements and rhetoric espoused by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah increase the risk of tension and could lead to renewed war between Hezbollah and Israel.

An Israeli air strike on April 26, 2017, destroyed a Hezbollah-operated supply hub near the Damascus Airport in Syria. Regular weapons shipments were sent from Iran to Hezbollah militants through the supply depot. A similar Israeli air strike struck and destroyed a weapons warehouse belonging to Hezbollah five months later, on September 24, 2017.

Speaking at the annual Herzliya security conference near Tel Aviv in June 2017, Israeli Air Force Major-General Amir Eshel stated that if war broke out with Hezbollah again, Israel would open with all its strength from the start. Assuring the audience that Israel contains air power unimaginable in its scope, Eshel bragged that what the air force was able to do in the Lebanon war over 34 days could now be accomplished in 48-60 hours.

The Trump administration announced a new public campaign against Hezbollah in October 2017, including cash rewards for the group’s most-wanted members, and stepped up counterterrorism and intelligence efforts.

On November 20, 2017, Nasrallah boasted in a speech that Hezbollah is proud and honored to say we sent Kornet missiles to the Gaza Strip.

Arab League officials accused Iran of destabilizing activities in the region and labeled Hezbollah a terrorist organization in November 2017 but stopped short of taking any action against either.

Nasrallah announced on December 11, 2017, that “Jerusalem, Palestine and the Palestinian people will return to being the priorities” for the group, following the fall of ISIS in Syria and President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Nasrallah called on all Arab nations to cease relations with Israel and engage in resistance on behalf of the Palestinian people.

In early 2018, the IDF began constructing a ten-meter-high concrete wall along the Lebanon-Israel border to keep Hezbollah operatives from infiltrating Israeli territory. A representative from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced that the organization was closely monitoring the construction to ensure the work stays on the Israeli side of the border to prevent unnecessary tension.

Policies & Politics

Hezbollah has consistently tried to paint itself as a moderate national liberation organization aimed at “introducing the Islam that is confident in achieving justice, as well as introducing the Islam that protects all human rights.” It tries to portray an image as a group that would rather not commit acts of terror but must for the benefit of the Arab world.

After expressing written statements against terrorist attacks, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, communicated to a Lebanese audience at a memorial for a Hezbollah suicide bomber that “we must continue the path of resistance and the path of the First and Second Intifada.”

Hezbollah is an active participant in Lebanese politics. In 1992, it participated in elections for the first time, winning 12 out of 128 parliamentary seats. It won ten seats in 1996 and eight in 2000. In the general election of 2005, it won 23 seats nationwide. An alliance between Amal and Hezbollah won all 23 seats in Southern Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri unexpectedly resigned on November 4, 2017, during a trip to Saudi Arabia, saying his life was in danger and accusing Iran of causing “devastation and chaos.” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir subsequently described Hezbollah as a “first-class terrorist organization" that should lay down its arms and respect Lebanon’s sovereignty. He accused Hezbollah of destabilizing the region and said: “consultations and coordination between peace-loving countries and Lebanon-loving countries are underway to try to find a way that would restore sovereignty to Lebanon and reduce the negative action which Hezbollah is conducting in Lebanon.” Hariri later returned to Lebanon, withdrew his resignation, and accused the Saudis of kidnapping him.

In May 2018, Lebanon held its first parliamentary election in nine years, strengthening Hezbollah’s grip on the government. Hezbollah and its allies won 67 out of the 128 parliamentary seats. The big loser was the Future Movement of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, which lost 13 seats and now has only 20. The Lebanese Forces, which opposes Hezbollah, increased its representation but still has only 15 seats.

Operations

Hezbollah’s main tactic is the use of suicide bombers. Hezbollah uses these human weapons to create mental and physical suffering for the Israelis and to force the Israelis to retreat out of “Islamic land.”

Shi’a Islam international bases are used to buy and sell weapons for organized attacks. Asia is a key target for Hezbollah, and Hezbollah has been pulling Malaysians and Indonesians into the organization to expand operations and terrorist attacks worldwide.

Hezbollah extended its operations across the globe throughout the 1980s, kidnapping individuals to gain political leverage.

Hezbollah operates a satellite television station from Lebanon, Al-Manar TV (“the Lighthouse”), and a radio station, al-Nour (“the light”). Qubth Ut Alla (“The Fist of God”) is the monthly magazine of Hezbollah’s paramilitary wing. It is widely viewed by West Bank and Gaza Palestinians as well as some Lebanese.

Leadership

The spiritual father of the movement in Lebanon is Sheikh Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah, who acts as chief Mujtahid (arbiter of Islamic law) of the Shi’ite community in Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah is the current Secretary General of Hezbollah. At the start of the 1980s, he was responsible for the Beqa’a area on behalf of the AMAL movement. He left the organization in 1982 and became affiliated with Hezbollah, taking many of his followers with him. Following the death of Abbas Musawi, Nasrallah was unanimously elected as his successor.

Ideology & Support

In a 1985 manifesto, Hezbollah vowed to expel Western powers from Lebanon, called for the destruction of Israel, and pledged allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader.

Lebanon remains a religiously and ideologically heterogeneous society; however, according to their published political platform in 2003, Hezbollah claims to favor introducing an Islamic government in Lebanon by peaceful democratic means. According to the United States Department of State and reports submitted to the Defense Technical Information Center, the organization seeks to create a fundamentalist Iranian-style Islamic republic and remove all non-Islamic influences.

Hezbollah cooperates with other militant Islamic organizations, such as Hamas, to promote its anti-Israel agenda. In 1992, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas signed an official cooperation agreement. Hezbollah has trained members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Iranian camps.

A relationship has also developed between Hezbollah and Al-Qa’ida, according to a former Al-Qa’ida member who was captured and convicted of bombing U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Ali Muhammad said that “Hezbollah provided explosives training for Al-Qa’ida” and that he arranged a meeting between Hezbollah’s chief and Osama bin Laden in Sudan. In 2002, leaders of Hezbollah, Al-Qa’ida, and Hamas met formally in Lebanon to discuss future joint terrorist attacks against America, Britain, and Israel.

Syria backs Hezbollah morally and has also supplied it with money and arms. In return, Hezbollah protects Syria’s political and military interests in Lebanon.

Iran provides financial aid, training, weapons, and explosives to Hezbollah and contributes political, diplomatic, and organizational assistance. According to Iran’s official budget, in the 1990s, Iran gave $500 million to support radical Islamic organizations worldwide. Hezbollah was reported to receive at least $250 million of that money.

It is also suspected that Hezbollah has received financial and military aid from Russia. Russia did not denounce Hezbollah as a terrorist organization until approximately twelve years after its establishment.

Hezbollah has several illicit fundraising rings operating in the United States. In 2003, the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered the existence of an organized drug smuggling operation that was funneling money to Hezbollah from Chicago and Detroit. In Charlotte, North Carolina, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms investigated a multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring that gave over $2 million to Hezbollah over eight years. The funds received from the Charlotte operation enabled Hezbollah to procure advanced military technology and global positioning systems. In March 2003, the leader of the cigarette smuggling ring, Mohamed Hammoud, received a 155-year sentence for racketeering and providing material support for Hezbollah.

Activities Around the World

In 1989, Hezbollah terrorists planned to kidnap Israel’s consul general in Sao Paolo or a diplomat in Brasilia to use as hostages for negotiations to free Hezbollah prisoners in Israel. Security forces searched for the terrorists for a month before learning they had left the country.

Eight days after the bombing of the Israeli embassy and the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Israeli Embassy in London was car bombed by two Palestinians linked to Hezbollah.

In January 2000, Hezbollah assassinated the South Lebanon Army Western Brigade commander, Colonel Aql Hashem, at his home in the security zone. Hashem had been responsible for the day-to-day operations of the South Lebanon army.

On June 16, 2004, the IDF arrested two Palestinian girls — aged 14 and 15 — for plotting a suicide bombing. According to an IDF statement, the two minors were guided by Hezbollah. On June 23, 2004, the Israeli security forces foiled another allegedly Hezbollah-funded suicide bombing attack.

In February 2005, the Palestinian Authority accused Hezbollah of attempting to derail the truce signed with Israel. Palestinian officials and former militants described how Hezbollah promised an increase in funding for any cell able to carry out a terrorist attack.

Since the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah operatives have been seen and, at times, even arrested in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and Asia.

“There are parts of the Caribbean where we’ve seen some, certainly some travel,” said Henry Crumpton, the State Department’s counter-terrorism coordinator. “There are parts of Central America where we’ve seen some operatives, where we’ve seen transactions – financial transactions – in the Caribbean. In the southern part of the Caribbean, next to Venezuela, in Colombia, we’ve seen some activity there.”

In January 2012, one Hezbollah suspect was arrested, and another managed to avoid capture in Thailand’s capital city, Bangkok, where security services believe they were working in a cell planning to attack areas commonly frequented by Israeli tourists. The attacks were thought to have been planned in coordination with the anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh on February 12. Israeli counter-terror experts warned that Hezbollah’s long arm was beginning to extend even further than many believed it could.

On October 7, 2014, an explosive device was detonated on the Israel-controlled side of the Israeli-Lebanon border. Hezbollah immediately took responsibility for the attack less than 4 hours after it happened, which is surprising considering their record of denying any attacks against Israel that they have been accused of. This marked the first time that Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for an attack against Israel since the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The explosive device was detonated in the area of Sheeba Farms, an area that Lebanon believes is unlawfully occupied by Israel and that Syria also claims the rights to. The explosion seriously injured two Israeli soldiers and was supposedly a retaliatory attack in response to an incident in which IDF soldiers witnessed individuals attempting to cross from Lebanon into Israel illegally. The IDF soldiers opened fire at these individuals and caused them to retreat to Lebanese territory. According to Lebanese sources, this is not how the confrontation proceeded, and they claim that Israeli soldiers fired on their military positions, injuring one soldier. IDF spokesman Lt Colonel Peter Lerner said this attack was a “blatant breach of Israel’s sovereignty.” In response to this attack, the Israeli military fired artillery at two Hezbollah positions in Southern Lebanon; no injuries were reported.

In November 2023, the Mossad helped Brazilian security forces foil a Hezbollah plot to recruit Brazilian citizens in Sao Paulo to attack Jewish targets. Two men were arrested.

Three people were arrested in Spain and one in Germany in July 2024 on suspicion of belonging to a network that supplied Hezbollah with parts to build kamikaze drones. Authoritiess found that Spanish companies run by Lebanese nationals were acquiring parts to manufacture drones capable of carrying explosive charges.

Hezbollah in Latin America

In 1992 and 1994, Hezbollah bombed the Israeli embassy and the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a press conference with Argentinian Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie on February 4, 2018. The two announced that their respective countries would begin doing more to cut off Hezbollah’s funding networks in South America.

The Argentinian government froze the assets of a suspected Hezbollah fundraising network in July 2018 following an investigation into the Hezbollah-linked criminal organization, the Barakat Group. According to the Financial Information Unit of Argentina, Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese citizens in Argentina were laundering money through casinos in Iguazu to finance the group’s terrorist activities. A statement released by the Financial Information Unit claimed that the Barakat Group was involved in smuggling, falsification of money and documents, extortion, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering, and terrorist financing. The United States Treasury targeted the Barakat Group in 2006 and named their leader, Assad Ahmad Barakat, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2004. A few weeks earlier, two other Lebanese nationals suspected of ties to Hezbollah and involvement in the network were arrested by Paraguayan authorities.

Hezbollah has a presence in Colombia under the cover of a legitimate organization called the “External Security Organization” (ESO), which is essentially Unit 910, Hezbollah’s foreign operations arm responsible for the 2012 terrorist attack in Burgas, Bulgaria, and the attacks in Argentina during the 1990s. The Colombian police confirmed Hezbollah’s presence and activities in a three-year investigation carried out jointly with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The investigation found that Iran directs the ESO through Lebanon, and Hezbollah recruits Colombians from the 40,000 Muslims living in the country and sends them to Lebanon for indoctrination and training. A senior member of the group responsible for Hezbollah operations in Panama was expelled from Colombia in 2017 after being indicted for drug smuggling and money laundering. Imad Mughniyeh was the ESO’s founder and leader until his assassination in 2008; its current head is Talal Hamiyeh.

Israel discovered that Iran smuggled gold from Venezuela, and the funds from the sale of the gold were transferred to Hezbollah. Badr Ad-Din Naimi Musawi, an Iranian businessman, ran the operation for the Iranian Quds Force.

Attacks on Americans

Hezbollah is suspected of involvement in numerous terrorist attacks on Americans:

Hezbollah held David Dodge, acting president of the American University in Beirut, captive for a year.
Kidnapped and murdered Malcolm Kerr, a Lebanese-born American who was president of the American University of Beirut.
Abducted Jeremy Levin, Beirut bureau chief of CNN, who later escaped
Held Reverend Benjamin Weir for 16 months
Seized the CIA Station Chief in Beirut, William Buckley, and he was never heard from again.
Kidnapped Frank Reed, director of the American University in Beirut, and held him for 44 months.
Held Joseph Cicippio, the acting comptroller at the American University in Beirut, for five years
Abducted and murdered Col. William Higgins, the American chief of the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization.
On April 18, 1983, a truck bomb exploded in front of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 employees, including the CIA’s Middle East director, and wounding 120. In 2023, Issa Tabatabai, the representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Lebanon, admitted that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa ordering suicide operations to be carried out against the Americans and Israelis in Lebanon.
On October 23, 1983, a truck loaded with a bomb crashed into the lobby of the U.S. Marines headquarters in Beirut, killing 241 soldiers and wounding 81. This was the deadliest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima (2,500 in one day) of World War II, and the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since 243 soldiers were killed on the first day of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War.
On April 12, 1984, Hezbollah bombed a restaurant near a U.S. Air Force base in Torrejon, Spain, killing 18 servicemen and wounding 83 people.
On September 20, 1984, a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in East Beirut killed 23 people and injured 21.
On December 4, 1984, Hezbollah terrorists hijacked a Kuwait Airlines plane and murdered American passengers Charles Hegna and William Stanford.
On June 14, 1985, Hezbollah terrorists hijacked a TWA flight and murdered Robert Stethem, a U.S. Navy diver. Imad Mughniyeh, Hasan Izz-al-Din, and Ali Atwa were on the FBI’s list of 22 Most Wanted Terrorists for the hijacking and killing. Mughniyeh was assassinated in 2008 in a joint CIA-Mossad operation.

Hezbollah in America

U.S. State Department wanted poster for
Hezbollah operatives Talal Hamiyah and Fu’ad Shukr

Two alleged Hezbollah operatives were arrested in the United States on June 8, 2017. Ali Kourani, 32, and Samer el Debek, 37, both naturalized U.S. citizens, were charged with performing surveillance on prospective targets for attacks to be carried out by Hezbollah’s external operations wing, Islamic Jihad. Kourani, who was living in the Bronx, New York, at the time of his arrest, had been gathering intelligence regarding operations and security at New York airports and was working to identify individuals affiliated with the IDF in the U.S. Born in Lebanon in 1984, Kourani relocated to the United States in 2003. His family’s home in Lebanon was allegedly destroyed during the 2006 Lebanon War, and two years later, he was recruited into Hezbollah. In 2016 and early 2017, Kourani was interviewed by the FBI multiple times, during which he mused that his family was the Bin Ladens of Lebanon and bragged that one of his brothers was the face of Hezbollah in a particular Lebanese city.

Samer el Debek was living in Dearborn, Michigan, when he was arrested and had spent time observing security procedures at the Panama Canal and the Israeli Embassy in Panama, as well as identifying weaknesses in the Panama Canal's construction. El Debek admitted during meetings with the FBI that he was first recruited into Hezbollah in late 2007 or 2008 and traveled to Lebanon to train with Hezbollah fighters at least four times between 2009 and 2013. An FBI special agent who interviewed el Debek stated that he possessed a high degree of technical sophistication in the area of bomb-making.

According to Colin Clarke, Hezbollah has had operatives and carried out activities in at least ten states. For example, the Goodwill Charitable Organization, based in Dearborn, Michigan, was used to transfer funds from American supporters to Lebanon. A money laundering scheme involved purchasing cars in the United States and reselling them in Africa. Yet another operation involved smuggling cigarettes. Hezbollah has also engaged in cyberwarfare and hacked into systems in at least four states.

Clarke states that the FBI conducted an intelligence investigation in the 1990s, Operation Smokescreen, which resulted in 26 individuals being charged with various crimes. Later, Operation Bathwater uncovered what was then the largest credit card fraud scheme in U.S. history. Since then, the government has closely monitored Hezbollah activities in the United States and abroad. Individuals affiliated with Hezbollah are barred from the United States, and American citizens are prohibited from providing any material or financial support to the terrorists.

Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Nicholas Rasmussen, told reporters during a briefing in October 2017 that Hezbollah is determined to give itself a potential homeland option to launch attacks within the United States. The Trump administration is working to disrupt the group’s fundraising, logistics, and operations and to demonstrate to any doubters that the group is a terrorist organization and not a legitimate political party. As part of the new strategy to take on Iranian proxies in the Middle East, Rasmussen announced a $12 million reward for the capture of two top Hezbollah operatives: Talal Hamiyah ($7 million) and Fu’ad Shukr ($5 million). Hamiyah coordinates Hezbollah attacks outside of Lebanon, and Shukr played a central role in the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

On July 30, 2024, Israel killed Fuad Shukr in an airstrike during its war with Hezbollah to allow its citizens to return to the homes they were forced to evacuate in the north. Another wanted terrorist was killed on September 20. An airstrike killed Shukr’s successor, Ibrahim Aqil, commander of the Radwan Force. The United States had offered a $7 million reward for information on Aqil because of his role in the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks and Embassy in Beirut in 1983.

New Jersey software engineer Alexei Saab was arrested in 2019 and accused of being a sleeper agent for Hezbollah. He was charged with providing material support to the deadly organization. He allegedly surveilled potential targets for Hezbollah — including the Brooklyn Bridge, the Midtown tunnel, the George Washington Bridge, and the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan. A jury could not reach a verdict on the terrorism charge but found that he received training from Hezbollah. He was also convicted of conspiring to commit marriage fraud and making false statements. In May 2023, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

In March 2024, a Lebanese migrant was arrested attempting to sneak over the border in Texas. He admitted he was a member of Hezbollah and wanted to make a bomb.

Al-Qard al-Hassan: Hezbollah’s Financial Backbone

Al-Qard al-Hassan, established in 1982 to provide loans and aid to needy families, has become a key financial institution for Hezbollah, acting as an alternative to Lebanon’s banking system. It holds tons of gold as collateral and loans over half a billion dollars annually. Due to its ties to Hezbollah, it has been sanctioned since 2016. In 2021, a data breach exposed its dealings with sanctioned Hezbollah members and other financial institutions, revealing extensive violations of sanctions.

The institution is central to Hezbollah’s financial network, effectively supporting the group’s military and political agendas. Facilitating money laundering and providing substantial funding has become crucial to Hezbollah’s parallel infrastructure in Lebanon, which includes sectors like education, healthcare, communication, and energy that function outside the official government framework.

Drug Smuggling to Fund Terrorism

Hezbollah finances its terrorism using a sophisticated drug-trafficking operation and continues to profit from its drug sales despite the world’s objections.

Hezbollah primarily profits through drug sales in Latin America, but its activities have been traced across multiple continents. The group combines its drug profits with proceeds from legitimate used-car sales in West Africa. Until officials uncovered it, this global money-laundering scheme effectively masked Hezbollah’s earnings.

In 2001, international intelligence sources identified Lebanese residents operating for Hezbollah in South America’s tri-border area (Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil). That area is a major source of funding for Hezbollah’s terror activities. In October 2008, investigators took down a cocaine smuggling operation in Colombia, noting that “profits from the sales of drugs went to finance Hezbollah.”

In 2009, U.S. officials discovered a series of criminal schemes, which ranged from stolen laptops, passports, and gaming consoles to selling stolen and counterfeit currency and procuring weapons. The origin of the plots was traced to a Hezbollah representative in Iran.

In January 2010, German officials arrested two suspects in Frankfurt’s airport after linking four Lebanese individuals to nearly 10 million euros in drug profits. Officials accused the suspects of trading drugs and sending the proceeds to relatives directly connected to top Hezbollah officials.

In 2011, the U.S. government seized drug profits linked to Ayman Joumaa, a drug trafficker and money launderer linked to Hezbollah. His network was earning as much as $200 million per month. In April 2013, the United States Treasury Department took action against Hezbollah for working as a drug cartel. Also, it blacklisted two Lebanese financial institutions, accusing them of transferring tens of millions of dollars to the terror group. American officials later confirmed that one of the banks agreed to pay the United States $102 million to settle a lawsuit arising from Hezbollah’s money-laundering scheme. In June 2013, four Lebanese men were sanctioned for effectively acting as “ambassadors” for Hezbollah in West Africa.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration, with the assistance of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and other European nations, busted a drug smuggling network supplying money to Hezbollah operatives. On February 1, 2016, the DEA announced the arrest of four individuals accused of working with South American drug cartels to transport cocaine and other illicit drugs into the U.S. and Europe and then using the drug money to buy weapons for Hezbollah.

On February 15, 2016, Panamanian authorities arrested a man traveling from Panama to Colombia with $500,000 cash in a suitcase on charges of managing drug-related operations and money laundering activities, helping to support Hezbollah.

On January 12, 2018, the U.S. Attorney General announced the formation of the Justice Department’s new Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team (HFNT), which includes experienced prosecutors specializing in narcotics, terrorism, organized crime, and money laundering. The team's mission is to investigate and prosecute individuals and networks connected to the financing or support of Hezbollah.

It was reported in 2025 that Hezbollah was expanding its presence in Venezuela as it turns increasingly to drug trafficking to offset funding shortfalls caused by Israeli military campaigns and Iran’s financial strain, according to sources cited by the Washington Free Beacon. More than 400 Hezbollah field commanders were directed to relocate to Latin America—specifically Venezuela—joining thousands of operatives who arrived there over the past decade.

With Iran no longer able to supply the roughly $700 million a year it once provided, Hezbollah has relied more heavily on cocaine trafficking, particularly “black cocaine” disguised to evade detection. U.S. estimates say the group has moved hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of drugs annually through Latin America, likely more in recent years. Venezuelan authorities are allegedly facilitating and profiting from these operations.

U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Attorney General Bill Barr, have warned that Venezuela has become Iran’s and Hezbollah’s central hub in the Western Hemisphere, serving as a base for drug trafficking, money laundering, and other illicit activities that pose a growing threat to U.S. security.

On January 3, 2026, the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar reported that Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, who was deposed in a U.S. raid the same day, had provided Hezbollah with 10,000 Venezuelan passports. This allowed terrorists to travel the world as Venezuelan citizens, evade scrutiny, and engage in illicit activities or terrorism.

Syrian Civil War

Protests against the Syrian government of Bashar Assad began in March 2011 and escalated to the point of becoming a civil war. At the behest of its patron, Iran, Hezbollah forces joined the fight to keep Assad in power. Syria has long been a defender of Hezbollah and one of its primary sources of weapons, most originating in Iran and smuggled to Lebanon. An estimated 8,000 group members, one-third of its force, are stationed in Lebanon. Approximately 1,800 fighters, including some from its elite units, have been killed and 6,000 wounded. It is also fighting without a supreme military commander after the assassination in 2008 of Imad Mughniyeh in a joint CIA-Mossad operation and the murder of his brother-in-law Mustafa Badreddine, who was rumored to have been killed in Damascus in 2016 by one of his men on the orders of Hassan Nasrallah.

On one hand, fighting has given Hezbollah a great deal of battlefield experience to prepare for a future war with Israel. On the other hand, the Lebanese Shiite community has become increasingly restless over the group’s involvement in what amounts to a foreign conflict. Families are also suffering as loved ones return with disabling injuries or in body bags. Hezbollah is also reportedly having financial difficulties, as its drug smuggling, money laundering, and subsidies from Iran are insufficient to cover its expenses.

U.S. Policy

On May 17, 2015, the U.S. House unanimously passed the Hezbollah International Financial Prevention Act, aimed at stifling the finances of the Hezbollah terrorist organization. The act ratchets up sanctions on foreign financial institutions that have dealings with Hezbollah.

Four individuals and one organization, Global Cleaners SARL, were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury on October 19, 2016, for providing assistance and support to Hezbollah. The four men, Muhammad al-Mukhtar Kallas, Hasan Jamal-al-Din, Yosef Ayad, and Muhammad Ghaleb Hamdar, performed financial services for Hezbollah members and assisted in the planning and execution of acts of terror. Two of the men were members of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization, and one had been arrested in Peru in 2014 under suspicion of planning attacks in the country. Global Cleaners SARL was found to be run by Hezbollah member and top financier Adham Tabaja.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions on February 2, 2018, against thirteen individuals and businesses allegedly associated with Hezbollah funding networks based in Iraq, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Liberia.

On May 16, 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Hezbollah’s top two officials, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem, and four other officials of the group’s ruling Shura Council. Washington and its partners in the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, jointly imposed the measures.

On October 15, 2018, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions designated Hezbollah as a transnational criminal organization that will be subject to tougher investigations and prosecutions. A special team of “experienced international narcotics trafficking, terrorism, organized crime, and money laundering prosecutors” will investigate individuals and networks providing support to Hezbollah, Sessions said.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), imposed financial sanctions on Wael Baozi of Belgium and Hassan Tabaja for operating companies and conducting business transactions on behalf of two top Hezbollah financiers. In addition, the department also targeted three companies operated by Buzzi that are allegedly used to fund Hezbollah’s activities: Belgium-based petroleum company Voltari Transcor Energy BVBA and consulting company OFFISCOOP NV, along with UK-based computer firm BSQRD Limited.

Sigal Mandelker, Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement that the department “is relentlessly pursuing Hezbollah’s financial facilitators by dismantling two of Hezbollah’s most important financial networks.”

“As Hezbollah continues to attempt to obscure its activities by using seemingly legitimate businesses, we will continue to take action against the front persons who hide the movement of money, including the relatives of designated terrorists,” she continued.

U.S. sanctions against Iran are having an impact on Hezbollah, which has relied on the Islamic Republic’s funding to build its arsenal, provide benefits to fighters, and support social services for its constituents. In early 2019, the group was recalling fighters from Syria, and some were being furloughed or assigned to the reserves, where they receive lower salaries or no pay at all, a group representative told the Washington Post. The paper also reported the group has had to end or cut the supply of free medicines and groceries to fighters, employees, and their families. In addition, Hezbollah’s television station, Al-Manar, has been forced to cancel programs and lay off staff.

During an August 2019 meeting with U.S. officials, Prime Minister Saad Hariri was told the Trump administration and Congress were committed to maintaining sanctions on Hezbollah and those who provide it with political, military, and intelligence cover. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Lebanese people were threatened by Hezbollah and pledged to help Lebanon defend itself. According to one official, Hariri was expected to “take concrete steps to distance himself from Hezbollah.” He was also informed that the United States would not provide any assistance if any money went to Hezbollah.

In September 2019, Alexei Saab, 42, of Morristown, N.J., was arrested and accused of scouting potential terrorism targets — including Fenway Park, the Prudential Center and Quincy Market in Boston, and the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building in New York. Prosecutors allege Saab is a member of Hezbollah.

Ali Kourani, a U.S. citizen and New York resident, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for spying on Hezbollah’s behalf between 2002 and 2015. “Ali Kourani was recruited, trained, and deployed by Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization to plan and execute acts of terrorism around New York City,” said Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Kourani considered himself a “sleeper agent” and called his family “the bin Ladens of Lebanon.”

The Trump administration announced on February 25, 2020, it was blacklisting three officials and 11 entities linked to the Lebanon branch of the Martyrs Foundation, a group the U.S. designated in 2007 as supporting terrorism and assisting Iran. The Foundation pays families of killed or imprisoned Hezbollah fighters and families of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide bombers.

The individuals targeted were Jawad Nur-al-Din, the director general of the foundation’s Lebanon branch, Kassem Mohamad Ali Bazzi, the chief executive and chairman of Atlas Holding, and Sheikh Yusuf Aasi, one of the company’s founders. Atlas is allegedly owned or controlled by the Martyrs Foundation and operates Lebanese companies in the fuel, pharmaceutical, tourism, and clothing industries.

In September 2020, the United States sanctioned former Lebanese Transport Minister Yusuf Finyanus and former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil for directing “political and economic favors to Hezbollah, including ensuring Hezbollah-owned companies won government contracts worth millions of dollars and moving money from government ministries to Hezbollah-associated institutions.”

On October 23, 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on Nabil Qaouk, a member of Hezollah’s executive council, and Hassan al-Baghdadi “for being leaders or officials” of Hezbollah. The action freezes any U.S. assets they may have, bars Americans from dealing with them, and imposes penalties on anyone who engages in certain transactions with them.

The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program has a standing reward offer of up to $10 million for information on Hezbollah's activities, networks, and associates that form part of its financial support, including financiers and facilitators like Muhammad Qasir, Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal, and Ali Qasir.

The Biden administration established early on that it would continue to impose sanctions on Hezbollah to cut off its access to funds for terror. In May 2021, the administration sanctioned seven Hezbollah operatives for their involvement in financing terror activities. “From the highest levels of Hezbollah’s financial apparatus to working level individuals, Hezbollah continues to abuse the Lebanese financial sector and drain Lebanon’s financial resources at an already dire time,” said Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea Gacki. “Such actions demonstrate Hezbollah’s disregard for financial stability, transparency, or accountability in Lebanon.”

In May 2025, the U.S. State Department announced a reward of up to $10 million for information that disrupts Hezbollah’s financial networks in Latin America, particularly in the lawless Tri-Border Area between Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Hezbollah, which receives about $1 billion annually through Iranian support and illicit activity, is accused of financing terrorism via money laundering, smuggling, counterfeit currency, and more. The move highlights U.S. efforts to counter Hezbollah’s expanding global financial reach and Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism.

In November 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced new sanctions against three senior operatives linked to Hezbollah: Ossama Jaber of Mayfadoun, Lebanon; Samer Kasbar of the United Arab Emirates; and Ja’far Muhammad Qasir of Lebanon. The three are accused of involvement in Hezbollah’s financial activities and have been designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) under Executive Order 13224. According to the Treasury, they are also subject to secondary sanctions under the Hezbollah Financial Sanctions Regulations.

U.S. Courts Order Payments to Victims

On September 10, 2018, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered Iran to pay $104.7 million to victims of a June 1996 truck bombing on the Khobar Towers complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 U.S. military personnel. Thirteen members of Hezbollah were indicted in federal court in June 2001 over their alleged roles in the attack. Chief Judge Beryl Howell entered a default judgment against Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which did not defend against claims over their alleged roles in the attack. Howell said plaintiffs could not collect punitive damages because the law did not allow them for attacks before 2008. It is not clear if or how the judgment will be collected.

In December 2006, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered Iran to pay $254.4 million to family members and the estates of 17 Americans who died in the attack, also in a default judgment.

On September 20, 2022, a U.S. court ordered Hezbollah to pay $111 million in damages to a group of Americans who sued, saying they were wounded by the group’s rockets during the 2006 war. The case was brought under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act and alleged that Hezbollah caused the plaintiffs physical and emotional injury and damaged their property.

Other Developments in Lebanon

In July 2017, reports disclosed that Hezbollah is building a military industry in Lebanon with the help of Iran. One factory being constructed in northern Lebanon is designed to manufacture Fateh 110 medium-range missiles, which can reach most of Israel and carries a 500-kilogram warhead. A second factory is being built on Lebanon’s southern coast. One reason for the new construction is that Israel has successfully interdicted several shipments of weapons from Syria.

The smuggling of arms and construction of weapons factories are violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for making southern Lebanon a weapons-free zone, except for the Lebanese army. The UN has taken no action in response to these violations, and the UNIFIL force continues to fail in its mission to prevent Hezbollah from moving personnel, weapons, and assets into the area near the border with Israel.

Israel also claimed Hezbollah was violating UN resolutions by setting up a network of observation posts along the border with Israel under the guise of a civilian organization called Green Without Borders.

In May 2018, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres submitted a semi-annual report on the implementation of the 2004 Security Council resolution ordering all Lebanese militias to disarm. He said Hezbollah’s military activity violates the resolution and the Taif Accords that ended the country’s 1975-90 civil war. His report called on Lebanon’s government and armed forces “to take all measures necessary to prohibit Hezbollah and other armed groups from acquiring weapons and building paramilitary capacity” outside the authority of the state.

As part of increasing cooperation with Hezbollah, Hamas’s deputy political chief, Saleh Arouri, has established the group’s main political ‎headquarters in Beirut.‎ In addition, Hezbollah is training Hamas fighters at its bases in southern Lebanon.

Israel has repeatedly struck targets in Syria to prevent the land transfer of weapons to Hezbollah, but Iran has reportedly increased its delivery of weapons by air via Damascus. According to former deputy Mossad chief Naftali Granot, Hezbollah has significantly upgraded its arsenal with the help of Iran. “It got antiaircraft missiles, antitank missiles, and recently received small numbers of GPS precision-guided systems which will help it convert some heavy rockets into accurate missiles,” he said in September 2018.

During his September 27, 2018, address at the UN General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed photos of what he said were three Hezbollah “secret sites”: a football stadium, a location near Beirut International Airport, and a residential neighborhood 500 meters from the airport’s landing strip where the group is using Iranian technology to convert the group’s rockets into precision-guided missiles capable of threatening targets deep inside Israel. He accused Hezbollah of using civilian areas to shield them from Israeli airstrikes but threatened to attack them if they were not shut down.

Map of Hezbollah infrastructure 2019. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S OFFICE)

Netanyahu said on December 19, 2018, that Hezbollah had shut down plants to develop precision-guided missiles after Israel exposed them. Israeli intelligence, however, reportedly informed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in March 2019 that Hezbollah has built a new missile factory in Beirut with the help of Iran. During a visit to Lebanon, Pompeo warned Prime Minister Saad Hariri that allowing the construction of facilities with the aim of manufacturing precision-guided missiles could provoke a response from Israel.

Another threat was exposed when Israel discovered a series of tunnels constructed by Hezbollah that extended across the Lebanese border into Israel. On December 3, 2018, the IDF launched Operation Northern Shield to destroy them.

Israeli officials have concluded Hezbollah is now largely in control of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). This is particularly disturbing given that the LAF has received more than $1.5 billion in assistance from the United States over the past twelve years and that LAF commander Joseph Aoun has said his forces intend to participate in any future war against Israel.

In the 2006 war, Israel distinguished between the two and restricted its operations to Hezbollah targets. “The distinction we made between Hezbollah and Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War was a mistake,” a senior officer in the Northern Command said. “In the next war we will not make this distinction. We will hit Lebanon and any infrastructure that would contribute to the fighting.”

As fears of a future conflict have grown, Israel decided to build an 80-mile security barrier along the border with Lebanon. Lebanese officials have called the plan an “aggression,” however, the entire project was planned and is being implemented with close consultation between Israel and UNIFIL, which, in turn, informs the Lebanese army.

Members of the UK Parliament passed a non-binding resolution on January 28, 2018, classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist organization under the country’s terrorism legislation. Only the military wing of Hezbollah was designated a terrorist group in the UK previously, and this resolution additionally designated their political wing a terrorist organization.

In early 2019, the United Kingdom ended the fiction that a distinction can be made between Hezbollah’s “military” and “political” wings and designated the entire organization a terrorist group. British Home Secretary Sajid Javid said, “There have long been calls to ban the whole group with the distinction between the two factions derided as smoke and mirrors.” He added, “Hezbollah themselves have laughed off the suggestion there is a difference.”

The UK now joins Canada, the U.S., Israel, the Netherlands, and the Arab League in banning the terror organization.

A New Tactic

In August 2019, Hezbollah appeared to adopt the arson techniques that Palestinians in Gaza repeatedly used to attack Israel. Hezbollah operatives set fires near the border, and winds spread the flames toward an IDF base and the community of Margaliot. Israeli news reported that officials believed Hezbollah was going to use this tactic to try to distract the IDF and clear the area to prevent Israeli forces from having cover near the border.

Foreign Governments Take Action

In 2019, the British finance ministry classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and, a year later, expanded the scope of its asset-freezing measures to cover the entire organization, including its ”military wing.”

In December 2019, the German Bundestag passed a non-binding resolution calling on the German government to ban the activities of Hezbollah. The government banned Hezbollah’s “military wing” in 2013 after the group was implicated in the July 2012 bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in which five Israelis were killed. However, Hezbollah’s “political wing” continued to raise funds in the country. In April 2020, Germany’s interior ministry outlawed all Hezbollah activities within the Federal Republic. The same day, German police raided four Hezbollah-controlled mosque associations in Berlin, Dortmund, Bremen, and Münster. In 2021, Germany outlawed the German Lebanese Family, People for Peace and Give Peace, for collecting money for Hezbollah.

In 2019, Argentina and Paraguay designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Colombia, Honduras, and Guatemala did the same in 2020.

A Law Enforcement Coordination Group (LECG) was created to counter Hezbollah’s terrorist and illicit activities. More than 30 governments and Europol participated in a meeting on June 29-30, 2022. Participants discussed Hezbollah’s ongoing global terrorist plotting, weapons procurement, and financial schemes and outlined how Hezbollah may adapt in the future to evade law enforcement detection. LECG members discussed how law enforcement or financial tools can be used to disrupt Hezbollah terrorist and criminal activities and associated networks.

Private Sean Rooney, an Irish UN peacekeeper, was killed on December 15, 2002, in the first fatal attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon since 2015. In 2023, a Lebanese military tribunal formally accused five members of Hezbollah and the allied Amal Movement of killing him. The five are among seven already charged by Lebanon’s judiciary in January.

“This is one important step towards justice and we continue to urge accountability for all perpetrators involved,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told Reuters.

In August 2023, the Security Council renewed UNIFIL’s mandate for another year. Israel succeeded in persuading members to accept two key changes: allowing UNIFIL to operate independently without coordinating its activity with the Lebanese army and requiring the Lebanese government to facilitate UNIFIL’s access to any site with announced and unannounced patrols. The objective was to prevent Hezbollah interference in its operations and to give UNIFIL more freedom to monitor the group’s activities. UNIFIL still has no enforcement power, however, and it was too late to effect changes on the ground that included Hezbollah establishing positions closer to the Israeli border.

Lebanese Tiring of Iranian Interference

The chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted as saying that Lebanon is at the forefront of Iran’s battle against Israel. This angered many Lebanese who are tired of what amounts to Iranian occupation of their country through their Hezbollah proxies.

“Making Lebanon an extension of Iran violates the country’s sovereignty and independence,” wrote Lebanese commentator Souad Lazkani. “Iran can and will use its rockets to fire from Lebanon to Israel if need be and whenever it wants, even if Lebanon does not agree to it. It will fall on the Lebanese people to pay the price of the heavy consequences as its territory becomes an arena for Iran’s battle with Israel,” he said.

“Hezbollah’s illegal weapons did not protect Lebanon in the past and will not protect it today,” the Lebanese Social Democratic Party said in a statement. “Instead, these weapons subject Lebanon to all forms of isolation, boycotts, and sanctions.”

Khaled Abu Toameh noted that Iran’s allies unveiled a statue in Beirut of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States the year before. “Hezbollah seems pretty damn desperate to make late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani a local hero, despite knowing that for a majority of the people in Lebanon, he simply represents a foreign power,” said Lebanese researcher Nizar Hassan.

The Next War

Israel has become increasingly concerned with Hezbollah’s efforts to build precision-guided missiles and, on several occasions, bombed factories to prevent their development. Meanwhile, according to Tal Beeri, “Hezbollah has a very large number of missile launchers, some mobile and some stationary, allowing it the ability to launch its missiles repetitively. Hezbollah has an estimated capability of firing up to 2,000 missiles and rockets in one day.”

These missiles are deployed in all 200 Shiite villages in the area south of the Zaharani River up to the border with Israel. In a conflict, Hezbollah is expected to launch missiles at Israeli communities and at IDF forces from houses in the villages and areas adjacent to these villages. “In the next war, Hezbollah’s array of launchers, missiles, and rockets will be activated at full force. Many missiles and rockets will fall throughout Israel, and it will not be simple,” explained IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi. “The enemy has chosen to place its weapons, missiles, and rockets among urban areas exploiting the local population as human shields...The IDF will carry out intensive attacks on these missile-launching and weapons-storage sites, whether they’re out in the open space or adjacent or inside buildings.”

In a provocative action, Hezbollah launched three drones at Israel’s Karish offshore Mediterranean gas rig on July 2, 2022 (and one before that). They were all shot down. Nasrallah had threatened to “cut off the hand of anyone who tries to infringe on Lebanese sovereignty” based on his insistence that Israeli gas exploration is being conducted in an area belonging to Lebanon.

The action angered the Lebanese government as it was engaged in U.S.-mediated talks to reach an agreement with Israel on maritime boundaries. “Lebanon believes that any actions outside the state’s framework and diplomatic context, while negotiations are taking place, is unacceptable and exposes it to unnecessary risks," said Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib.”

Nevertheless, Nasrallah continued to issue threats. On July 25, 2022, he warned: “If the extraction of oil and gas from Karish begins in September before Lebanon obtains its right, we would be heading to a problem and we'll do anything to achieve our objective.” He added that “all fields are under threat, not only Karish,” and that “no Israeli target at sea or on land is out of the reach of the resistance's precision missiles.”

Though UN Security Council Resolution 1701 bars Hezbollah from operating near the Israeli border, Ynet reported in January 2023 that Hezbollah built at least 20 observation and guard posts parallel to the perimeter fence being constructed by the Israeli military. A subsequent report put the number at 27 as Hezbollah used a fictitious organization, Green Without Borders, as a cover.

“The use of this organization as a front for Hezbollah’s malign activities has been recognized by the UN and described in several periodic reports of the secretary-general. As has been flagged by several UN reports and noted in relevant UN resolutions, this perverse tactic, of terror organizations hiding behind non-profits and NGOs, is a growing phenomenon that is not only employed by Hezbollah but by many other terror groups across the globe as well,” Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wrote to the Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres.

In May 2023, Hezbollah conducted a two-hour public military exercise at a training base 12 miles north of the Israeli border, just beyond the area where UN Security Council Resolution 1701 prohibits its presence. Journalists were invited to watch fighters jumping through flaming hoops, demonstrating their hand-to-hand knife combat skills, and firing guns from motorcycles. The next day, Israel’s chief of military intelligence, Aharon Haliva, said that Nasrallah was “close to making a mistake that could plunge the region into a big war.”

As tensions escalated along the border during the summer, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Nasrallah “not to make a mistake.” He said, “You have made mistakes in the past, you have paid very heavy prices. If… an escalation or conflict develops here, we will return Lebanon to the Stone Age. We will not hesitate to use all our power, and erode every inch of Hezbollah and Lebanon if we have to.”

In response, Nasrallah made this threat: “If you were to wage a war against Lebanon, you would return to the stone age.”

In September 2023, Israel revealed that Iran was building an airport in southern Lebanon 12 miles from Israel’s northern border. Showing a satellite photo of the site, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “In the pictures, you can see the Iranian flag flying over the runways, from which the ayatollah regime plans to operate against the citizens of Israel.”

Updated Arsenal

Despite Israel’s best efforts to interdict and destroy its weapons, Hezbollah has increased the number, range, and lethality of its arsenal. Iran has provided an almost continuous supply of arms directly to Lebanon and via Syria. Iran has also helped Hezbollah develop the research and manufacturing capability for more precise weaponry. Today, its arsenal includes:

150,000 mortars
65,000 rockets with a range of 50 miles (80 km)
5,000 rockets with a range of 50-125 miles(80-200 km)
5,000 missiles with a range of 125-435 miles (200-700 km)
2,500 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Hundreds of advanced conventional weapons

Of these, some 75,000 have been converted to precision-guided rockets/missiles.

Hezbollah Rocket Inventory

NAME	DIAMETER	LENGTH	WARHEAD	RANGE
Fadi 1	220 mm	6 m	83 kg	70 km
Fadi 2	302 mm	6 m	170 kg	100 km
Fadi 6	302 mm	6~ m	140 kg	225 km
Nasr 1	302 mm	6.5~ m	100 kg	100 km
Nasr 2	302 mm		140 kg	150 km
Fajr 5	333 mm	6.5 m	175 kg	75 km
Qader 1	620 mm	7.6 m	500 kg	190 km
Qader 2	620 mm	8.6 m	405 kg	250 km
Fateh 110	610 mm	8.6 n	500 kg	300 km

According to the Alma Research and Education Center:

If an all-out war breaks out with Israel, the quantity of weapons Hezbollah has will enable it to launch an average of about 3,000 launches (of all weapons) into Israeli territory every day for at least the first ten days. Assuming that such a war would continue for up to two months, Hezbollah will be able to continue to manage a very intense launching economy into Israeli territory, with an average of at least 1,000 launches a day.

The Gaza War

According to the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, Iran decided the next battle should occur inside Israel after Hamas’s “Sword of Jerusalem” operation in 2021. Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Iranian military officials met to discuss the possibility of infiltrating Jewish communities from Lebanon, Gaza, or the West Bank.

In April 2021, Nasrallah met with Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and PIJ leader Ziad al-Nakhala and discussed an instance where a terrorist infiltrated Israel from Lebanon, which they saw as a test of Israel’s defenses. Subsequently, the paper says, “Hezbollah organized a full-scale, public military demonstration in the village of Aaramta in southern Lebanon, titled ‘We Will Cross,’ signaling its intention to change the current rules of engagement and shift the clashes to territories controlled by the Israeli state.”

The paper says the “Al-Aqsa Flood” plan was devised in a joint Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran military operations room in Beirut over several months. They launched a cyberattack on Israel’s ground and air defense systems, allowing paragliders and drones to evade detection. Ground forces would then breach the fence.

Israel was surprised by an invasion of an estimated 3,000 Hamas terrorists from Gaza on October 7, 2023, who massacred some 1,400 civilians and soldiers. The attack provoked Israel to launch an air, sea, and ground attack aimed at eliminating the Hamas threat. The Biden administration sent messages to Iran and Hezbollah warning that the United States would intervene militarily if they attacked Israel. The U.S. moved two aircraft carrier strike groups, a nuclear submarine, and additional troops and fighter planes to the region to back up the threat.

Israel has been preparing for years for the possibility of a war in Lebanon and was on alert for any sign Hezbollah might enter the fighting. Several thousand troops were moved to the north as a deterrent.

Starting the second day of the war, Hezbollah began launching drones and firing anti-tank missiles and mortar shells at IDF positions on the Lebanese border. Israel returned fire. On October 9, 2023, several terrorists crossed the border and were killed by Israeli forces.

Tensions continued to grow as Israel’s attacks on Gaza intensified. Hezbollah and IDF troops periodically exchanged fire along the border; one Israeli was killed and three wounded by an anti-tank missile. Israel used artillery to shell the area and may have killed a Reuters videographer and injured six other journalists.

Israel ordered 22 communities along the border to evacuate and moved additional troops north.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Israel had launched planes for a preemptive strike against Hezbollah on October 11 when its intelligence indicated Hezbollah was preparing a cross-border attack. Believing they needed American support, Israeli officials informed the Biden administration of the plan. Biden’s top intelligence officials did not think an attack was imminent from Lebanon. Hoping to avert a wider war, the president convinced Netanyahu to call off the attack. Netanyahu denied the report.

Both Iran and Hezbollah were thought to be more interested in seeing Israel bogged down and bleeding in Israel than mounting a direct assault. Israel had warned Hezbollah before the Gaza War began that it would show no restraint if it were attacked from Lebanon. According to the Washington Institute’s Hanin Ghaddar:

The goal of Hezbollah’s strategy seemed clear: to reap the benefits of the Hamas-Israel war without losing the military presence it has steadily built up in Lebanon since 2006. Although the group believes that opening another front could temporarily overwhelm Israel per the “united front” strategy designed by Iran’s IRGC, it also realized this approach would fail to defeat Israel in the long term—more likely, it would wind up destroying Hezbollah’s arsenal and weakening its forces. A full-scale war that ends without clear victory would leave the organization with insufficient funding to restock its military or push a “victory” narrative to its core constituency in Lebanon; the leadership might not even be able to rebuild their strongholds in Beirut and the south.

Ghaddar added that Iran may be satisfied for now with having frozen the Israeli-Saudi normalization process, exposed weaknesses in Israel’s intelligence and military strength, and, through its support for Hamas, “caused serious harm inside Israel in retaliation for suspected Israeli operations inside Iran.”

While the threat from Lebanon has attracted the most attention, Israel is also concerned with the Syrian border. Iranian and Hezbollah forces have been present in Syria since the beginning of the civil war. Iran is believed to have more than 13 military bases with five divisions of troops in Syria, provoking Israel to repeatedly bomb targets in Syria to prevent a buildup of troops and weaponry.

After rockets were fired at Israel from Syria, the IDF ordered on October 16 the evacuation of 28 communities within two miles of the border, and Hezbollah and the IDF exchanged fire. An anti-tank missile injured three people in Metula on the 17th, and the IDF killed four would-be infiltrators and five other Hezbollah terrorists. On October 18, Hezbollah destroyed surveillance cameras on several Israeli army posts along the border, further ratcheting up tensions. Israel launched airstrikes in Lebanon the following night.

On October 19, 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward Kiryat Shemonah. They were believed to have been shot by Hamas. A father and his daughter were wounded.

Hezbollah continued to fire rockets and anti-tank missiles into Israel on October 21. The IDF returned fire. On a visit to the area, Gallant said, “Hezbollah has decided to join the combat and is paying a price for it, and we must prepare for any possibility. Great challenges lie ahead.”

Provocations continued from both Lebanon and Syria. The IDF intercepted drones from Lebanon and eliminated more than 20 Hezbollah cells.

Another 14 communities close to the Lebanese border were set to be evacuated and settled in state-funded guest houses. Many residents began moving south when attacks from Lebanon escalated.

Hezbollah was coordinating activities with the Gaza terrorists. According to a report by Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV, Nasrallah met with the head of PIJ, Ziad Nahleh, and the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, to discuss the path to “real victory.”

On October 29, the IDF destroyed several Hezbollah observation posts in southern Lebanon in response to four separate rocket and missile attacks. The IDF intercepted a surface-to-air missile that was launched from Lebanese territory on the 31st. Exchanges of fire continued daily, prompting thousands of Lebanese civilians near the border to move north.

Hamas in Lebanon fired 12 rockets at Kiryat Shmona on November 2, wounding two people and causing widespread damage.

In a much-anticipated speech on November 3, Nasrallah denied that Hezbollah was aware of the Hamas plan or had any part in it but expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and their “martyrs.” He was vague, however, about whether Hezbollah would intensify its attacks. “Some claim Hezbollah is about to join the fray. I tell you: We have been engaged in this battle since October 8,” he said. “Some would like Hezbollah to engage in an all-out war, but I can tell you: What is happening now along the Israeli-Lebanese border is significant, and it is not the end.”

Nasrallah and Netanyahu also exchanged threats. In his speech, the Hezbollah leader said, “I tell the Israelis, if you are considering carrying out a preemptive attack against Lebanon, it will be the most foolish mistake you make in your entire existence.” Israel’s prime minister responded that Israel’s “enemies in the north” should not escalate the war. “You cannot imagine how much this will cost you,” he declared.

Violence along the border escalated after his speech, with one Israeli civilian killed by an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon and Israel launching new airstrikes on Hezbollah targets. On November 6, 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon. There were no reports of damage or injuries, and the IAF responded with strikes on Hezbollah targets. Kiryat Shemonah continued to be bombarded, and the estimated 3,000 residents who remained after most of the town was evacuated were advised again to leave.

Chief of Staff Halevi said the military was “ready at any moment to go on the offense in the north.”

Undeterred, Hezbollah fired 20 rockets into Israel on November 7. IAF jets destroyed a Hezbollah weapons warehouse, rocket fire installations, and infrastructure for directing terror attacks.

Nasrallah made another speech saying that Iran supports the “axis of resistance” (including Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and Iraqi Shia groups). He admitted Arab states felt no compulsion to go to war with Israel but insisted they pressure the United States to call for a ceasefire.

On November 10, a drone fired from Syria hit a school in Eilat. Some 40 students were in the basement at the time but had no serious injuries. Israel responded with an airstrike targeting the group that launched the drone. Hezbollah said seven of its fighters were killed but didn’t say if it was from the Israeli attack.

On November 11, six Israeli civilians were wounded by anti-tank missiles fired from Lebanon as violence continued to escalate. The following day, eight soldiers and ten civilians (six making repairs for the Israel Electricity Corporation) were wounded by missiles. Multiple rockets were fired, four were intercepted, and the rest fell in open areas. Another 20 rockets were fired on the 13th. The IAF responded with airstrikes.

Hezbollah also stepped up its attacks on northern Israel. Rather than react to each one as it did in the first weeks of the war, the IDF began to initiate operations against Hezbollah’s infrastructure. The Biden administration remained worried that the fighting would escalate to all-out war and rebuked Israel for attacks that had hit Lebanese armed forces, which the U.S. has been supporting and arming.

One reason Israel may be holding back from a major assault is that approximately 20% of Hezbollah’s rockets have landed inside Lebanon.

Israel has continued its limited strikes in Lebanon and also targeted Hezbollah military sites inside Syria. The violence escalated almost daily. On December 26, nine soldiers were wounded while helping an Israeli civilian injured by an anti-tank missile fired at the St. Mary’s Greek-Orthodox Church in the northern village of Iqrit. The IDF killed the terrorist who fired the rocket.

The heaviest barrage to date was on December 27, with six rockets causing damage to residential buildings and infrastructure in Kiryat Shemonah. An additional three rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome, with the remainder landing in open areas.

The inevitability of an all-out war was becoming increasingly apparent. On December 27, a source told Haaretz, “Hezbollah has fired off in the current conflict more than 2,500 missiles and mortar shells. This is nothing less than a declaration of war. In any other situation, we would have responded differently, but we have consciously decided not to fight back. We hope and pray that diplomacy will cause Hezbollah to calm down. But even if that happens, it's like taking an aspirin.” A Likud minister lamented, “Yes, we may find ourselves in a more difficult situation than we’re in now, as difficult as that is, as odd as that may seem. We understand that if we don’t act now, the price will be higher and more painful later. The real test of Hezbollah's intentions will come when we move to the next stage in Gaza.”

Following the assassination of Arouri in Beirut, Nasrallah called the attack a “major and dangerous crime” that “will not go unanswered and unpunished.” He said, “If the enemy thinks of waging a war on Lebanon, we will fight without restraint, without rules, without limits and without restrictions.”

The Biden administration sent special envoy Amos Hochstein to Lebanon “to help resolve some of the tension” and prevent the escalation of fighting.

Meanwhile, while Israel was engaged in a difficult campaign to destroy the vast tunnel system built by Hamas in Gaza, a former Israeli intelligence official warned that Hezbollah had begun building tunnels in Lebanon long before Hamas. According to Tal Beeri, Hezbollah has an underground network stretching hundreds of miles. He says Hezbollah has different types of tunnels, including ones allowing terrorists to move underground, ones near the Israeli border from which attacks can be staged, and ones filled with explosives to be detonated when IDF troops approach. The existence of such an extensive tunnel system, combined with the large arsenal of missiles, makes the prospect of destroying Hezbollah more daunting.

From October 8, 2023, through the end of June 2024, Hezbollah launched 2,295 attacks on Israel, including anti-tank missiles and drones. After evacuating some 61,000 citizens from 43 communities within three miles of the Lebanese border, Israel made clear the situation was untenable and that unless a diplomatic solution forced Hezbollah away from the border, an all-out war was coming.

On July 30, 2024, Israel killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and a right-hand man to Nasrallah an air strike in Beirut. Shukr was responsible for the Majdal Shams strike that killed 12 children and other deadly attacks on Israel. The IDF said he was “responsible for the majority of Hezbollah’s most advanced weaponry, including precise-guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets, and UAVs” and for the terror group’s “force build-up, planning, and execution of terror attacks against the State of Israel.” He also was a member of the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s top military body. It was the first Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital since a January strike that killed Hamas’s deputy leader abroad Saleh al-Arouri.

The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for information on Shukr through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program. He was believed to have played a “central role” in the 1983 bombing of U.S. Marine Corps barracks that killed 241 Marines.

An airstrike on September 20 killed Shukr’s successor, Ibrahim Aqil, commander of the Radwan Force. The United States had offered a $7 million reward for information on Aqil because of his role in the bombing.

Israel intensified its attacks over the next several days, destroying weapons caches and rocket launchers and killing most of the organization's leaders. On September 27, 2024, Israel bombed the Beirut headquarters of Hezbollah, killing Nasrallah and other commanders meeting below a residential building.

On October 20, 2024, the IDF targeted Al-Qard al-Hassan’s branches to disrupt Hezbollah’s access to funds, underscoring its significance in the group’s operations.

Ceasefire

On November 26, 2024, a ceasefire in south Lebanon was brokered, with the agreement set to take effect at 4:00 am (Israel time) the following day. This ceasefire established a 60-day truce, marking a significant temporary de-escalation in hostilities between Lebanon and Israel. The primary condition of the agreement was that the IDF would withdraw from southern Lebanon by the end of the 60 days. In return, Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, is required to pull back beyond the Litani River, which, 12 miles north of the Israeli border, has historically served as a geographical boundary. This provision aims to reduce Hezbollah’s influence in the area and lower the risk of further military provocations between the two sides.

During the truce, the Lebanese army will deploy into southern Lebanon to assume control of the area. At the same time, UNIFIL will be significantly reinforced to monitor and enforce the ceasefire. International forces, including British, German, and French troops, will participate in this enhanced UNIFIL presence. This international reinforcement is designed to prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing itself in the region and to ensure stability.

One of the critical aspects of the ceasefire is creating a robust enforcement mechanism involving international partners. Should Hezbollah violate the terms of the truce by rearming itself, operating south of the Litani River, or engaging in other hostile actions, Israel retains the right to take military action.

While the ceasefire brings temporary relief, it does not immediately allow residents of northern Israel to return to their homes. The Israeli government continued providing financial support, in the form of stipends, to those who had been evacuated due to the ongoing conflict. A decision on whether residents can safely return will depend on the security situation and the effectiveness of the ceasefire.

The ceasefire agreement included a “side document” in the form of an official U.S. letter that ensured Israel’s security interests by providing guarantees. These included allowing Israel to target Hezbollah operatives, preventing attempts to rearm the group, and addressing regional threats. The letter outlined commitments such as intelligence-sharing on violations, including Hezbollah’s infiltration into the Lebanese army, and authorizing the U.S. to share relevant information with the Lebanese government. The U.S. further pledged to cooperate with Israel to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in Lebanon, including arms transfers and support for proxies. Affirming Israel’s right to self-defense under international law, the U.S. recognized its right to act against threats from Lebanese territory if Lebanon failed to address them. Israel, in turn, committed to using its air operations over Lebanon strictly for surveillance, avoiding undue disruption like breaking the sound barrier.

Several political and strategic considerations influenced the timing of the ceasefire deal. There was concern that the United Nations Security Council might impose a unilateral ceasefire on Israel, forcing it to halt its actions in southern Lebanon without Israel’s agreement. By negotiating the terms of the truce, Israel ensures that it retains control over the situation. Another factor in the timing of the ceasefire is the upcoming change in U.S. leadership. The 60-day period allows Israel to reassess the situation with a new administration in the U.S. taking office, which could bring shifts in diplomatic priorities and strategies.

The ceasefire was not meant to be a permanent solution or the end of the conflict. Instead, it was a temporary measure that will be evaluated based on the situation. It allowed Israel to regroup and prepare for potential future confrontations. The terms of the ceasefire were to be closely monitored, and any violations would prompt Israel to respond to ensure its security and the stability of the region.

In his public statement about the ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined three reasons for the truce with Lebanon. First, he emphasized the importance of focusing on the Iranian threat, explaining that the ceasefire would allow Israel to shift its attention to Iran’s threats to the region. By addressing this threat, Israel hopes to strengthen its security posture in the face of broader regional instability. Second, Netanyahu highlighted the need for arming and regrouping, noting that the ceasefire would allow the IDF to reorganize, rearm, and assess the situation. This would enable Israel to ensure its readiness for any future military actions, if necessary, after the 60-day truce period. Finally, Netanyahu mentioned the strategic objective of separating the fronts and isolating Hamas. By securing a ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israel could reduce the multi-front war and focus its efforts on Hamas in Gaza. This would help isolate Hamas, weakening its position and limiting its potential support from other regional players, thus diminishing its operational capabilities.

In a statement following the brokering of the ceasefire, President Biden highlighted the U.S. role in facilitating the agreement, reaffirmed Israel’s right to self-defense, and stressed the importance of supporting Lebanon’s sovereignty. He also outlined a broader vision for Middle East peace, including a Palestinian state and normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. In a separate joint statement, Presidents Biden and Macron announced the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, praising the agreement. They committed to working with both countries to ensure the ceasefire is fully implemented and emphasized efforts to support capacity-building in Lebanon to promote regional stability and prosperity.

The Israeli national security cabinet officially approved a ceasefire by a majority of 10 ministers to one. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was the sole cabinet member to vote against the deal.

The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is under strain, with France and the United States accusing Israel of violations. France reported 52 Israeli incidents, including drone flights over Beirut and attacks causing civilian deaths, criticizing Israel for bypassing the international monitoring committee. Israel defended its actions, citing Hezbollah violations that required immediate response. U.S. officials, including Amos Hochstein, who brokered the deal, also warned Israel about the ceasefire breaches, particularly the return of drones to Lebanese airspace.

Tensions escalated when, on December 2, 2024, Hezbollah fired mortars at Mount Dov, claiming retaliation for Israeli enforcement actions. The IDF responded by attacking Hezbollah operatives and 20 rocket launchers throughout Lebanon, with senior officials warning that failing to act could lead to prolonged conflict. Both Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz pledged a solid response to Hezbollah violations, while opposition leaders criticized the ceasefire as ineffective.

The day before, Israel intercepted an Iranian plane traveling to Syria that it suspected of carrying arms for Hezbollah, forcing it to turn around. Israel also warned Iran not to try to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah while coming to the aid of the Assad regime as it fights off a new rebel onslaught.

On February 7, 2025, a week and a half before the ceasefire extension on the northern border expires, U.S. Deputy Middle East Peace envoy Morgan Ortagus met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. She stated that “Hezbollah will not be able to terrorize the Lebanese people”, that “Israel defeated Hezbollah,” and asserted that Hezbollah must not be part of the next Lebanese government. The following day, Lebanon formed its first full-fledged government since 2022. After U.S. opposition, Hezbollah’s influence was limited but not completely diminished. Hezbollah’s ally Amal secured five cabinet seats, preventing the group from obtaining veto power. Washington welcomed the government’s formation, hoping it would rebuild state institutions.

On February 18, 2025, the IDF began withdrawing from southern Lebanon while maintaining a more significant defensive presence along the border, with five military outposts remaining indefinitely. These outposts, staffed by company-sized units, are intended to prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing a foothold, given the Lebanese Army’s limited effectiveness in enforcing the ceasefire terms. Despite Hezbollah’s threats, Israel believes these positions are strategically necessary to minimize conflict with the broader Lebanese public while maintaining an aggressive posture against Hezbollah incursions and arms smuggling. The IDF has improved intelligence efforts to differentiate between civilians and militants and is coordinating with the U.S. to monitor Hezbollah’s actions. Additionally, the military has primarily cleared the border area of Hezbollah weapons and hopes to facilitate the return of northern Israeli residents by March 2.

Approximate locations of the five IDF outposts

On February 23, 2025, it was reported that Hezbollah is facing severe financial and military setbacks due to Israeli airstrikes and Lebanon’s new U.S.-backed government efforts to curb its funding. Once operating as a state-within-a-state, Hezbollah is now struggling to provide financial aid to its members, compensate for war damages, and sustain its military operations. The cost of destruction, estimated at $3.4 billion, has left tens of thousands without homes or businesses, while Hezbollah’s primary financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan, has delayed or frozen payments. The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has further weakened Hezbollah by cutting off a crucial supply route. While loyalty to the group remains publicly significant, its diminished financial and military capacity signals a potential long-term decline in influence. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s newly elected president, Joseph Aoun, aims to diminish Hezbollah’s control, but his administration faces economic turmoil and the challenge of securing international aid. Though weakened, Hezbollah has not been defeated, with efforts underway to reorganize its ranks and maintain its presence.

A February 2025 ALMA report indicates extensive Iranian involvement in Hezbollah’s post-war rehabilitation, primarily led by the IRGC, particularly the Quds Force. IRGC officers directly oversee Hezbollah’s military restructuring, train recruits, and assess past failures while managing financial and logistical support. The killing of 4,000 Hezbollah operatives during the war prompted organizational and economic adjustments to sustain long-term recovery. Multiple specialized IRGC units, such as Division 8000 (weapons production), Unit 2250 (logistics), Unit 340 (R&D), and Units 190 and 700 (weapons smuggling), are playing key roles in enhancing Hezbollah’s capabilities. Additionally, Unit 300 is expected to assist Hezbollah in cyber operations and electronic warfare. Amid leadership transitions following high-profile assassinations, Iran continues to use clandestine networks and exploit crises to sustain Hezbollah’s military strength in Lebanon.

The following month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned five individuals and three Lebanon-based companies involved in a sanctions evasion network that supports Hezbollah’s financial operations. This network, working with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF), generates millions through front companies to fund Hezbollah’s terrorist activities. Among those designated are key family members and associates of senior Hezbollah finance officials who have concealed their ties to the organization by transferring ownership of companies. The sanctions block all U.S.-linked assets of these individuals and entities, prohibit transactions with them, and impose penalties for violations. The U.S. State Department is also offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the disruption of Hezbollah’s financial mechanisms.

European authorities have dismantled a Hezbollah-linked smuggling network that spanned Spain, Germany, France, and the UK, intercepting large quantities of drone components intended for attacks on Israel. The network, first detected in mid-2024, used front companies and included suspects arrested in multiple countries for acquiring, financing, and attempting to ship materials like engines, propellers, and chemical compounds to Hezbollah. Though there was no indication of planned attacks in Europe, the scale of the operation revealed Hezbollah’s growing use of Europe as a logistical hub. The arrests coincided with ongoing investigations into Hezbollah’s maritime and air-based smuggling operations following disruptions to overland routes. These developments come in the wake of intense Hezbollah-Israel hostilities since October 2023, which included thousands of drone and rocket attacks and continued efforts by the Iran-backed group to rearm despite a ceasefire agreed upon in November 2024.

In a potentially significant shift, a Hezbollah official indicated in mid-April that the group would consider disarming—something long thought unthinkable—if Israel fully withdrew from Lebanese territory. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese government is obligated to dismantle all Hezbollah military infrastructure and seize weapons, beginning with areas south of the Litani River. President Aoun acknowledged that the government lacks the power to disarm Hezbollah forcibly and expressed hope for a negotiated agreement. Meanwhile, anti-Hezbollah members of parliament called for a firm disarmament timeline, with one MP proposing a six-month deadline.

“It’s clear that Hezbollah has to be disarmed, and it’s clear that Israel is not going to accept terrorists shooting at them, into their country, and that’s a position we understand,” U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus said.

Hezbollah Loses Power

According to retired Israeli colonel Jacques Neriah, Hezbollah’s crushing defeat by Israel “brought drastic changes to the Lebanese reality,” shattering its image of invincibility and provoking rare public scorn. Lebanese accused the group of dragging the country into a “war that did not concern the Lebanese at all,” while its “strategic weapons proved useless facing Israel’s technological and air supremacy.”

Israel’s campaign, Neriah said, ended the long-standing balance of deterrence. Nasrallah’s vaunted doctrine—“you escalate, we escalate”—was rendered meaningless as “Israel made clear… it no longer accepted threats based on the equation of equality.”

Politically, Hezbollah “lost the veto right it had held in previous governments.” Furthermore, the state moved to “dismantle Hezbollah’s financial pyramid” and cut off Iranian cash routes.

Regionally, the fall of the Assad regime dealt Hezbollah “the most significant blow,” Neriah observed, severing its land bridge from Iran and leaving it “confronted with three fronts”—domestic, Israeli, and Syrian. The group, now led by the “uncharismatic Naim Qassem,” focused on “replacing hundreds of commanders who had died” while avoiding further conflict: it “had to go below the radar and refrain from initiating military actions against Israeli targets.”

By mid-April, the Lebanese Army was said to have nearly completed dismantling Hezbollah’s infrastructure south of the river and, for the first time, was entering Hezbollah bases north of the Litani. Some 400 Hezbollah commanders reportedly were fleeing to South American countries.

The Lebanese army announced on April 20, 2025, that it had successfully foiled a planned rocket attack on Israel, marking the first such prevention since a ceasefire in November halted fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Acting on intelligence, troops raided an apartment near Sidon, seized rockets and launch pads, and arrested several individuals linked to the plot. These arrests are connected to earlier detentions last week, which involved suspects, some of them Palestinian, accused of launching rockets at Israel in late March, prompting Israeli airstrikes in response.

On April 21, President Aoun stated, “When I spoke of the state’s exclusive right to arms in my oath of office, it wasn’t just words. I said it because I firmly believe that the Lebanese people do not want war and can no longer bear its consequences or even the language of war.” He added that enforcement hinges on the “right conditions.” The statement came two days after Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem declared, “We will not allow anyone to disarm Hezbollah or the resistance.”

The IDF remained active in southern Lebanon, seeking and destroying remaining Hezbollah sites. On June 27, 2025, for example, the IDF launched a targeted airstrike on a key Hezbollah command site in Beaufort Ridge, southern Lebanon. The underground facility, previously rendered inoperable, was being rebuilt to regain control over firepower and defense systems. In response to intelligence showing renewed activity, Israeli jets struck the site and surrounding terror infrastructure. The IDF called Hezbollah’s rehabilitation efforts a clear violation of Israeli-Lebanese understandings and a threat to regional stability. Reaffirming its stance, the IDF stated it will not allow such sites to be reactivated and will act decisively to protect Israeli security.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejected the Lebanese government’s request to surrender the group’s missile arsenal. “Threats will not cause us to surrender or lay down our arms,” Qassem declared. “We are surprised by the request from the state of Lebanon to hand over our missiles; this is a defensive capability of the organization.”

His remarks came days before Thomas Barrack, Trump’s envoy to Lebanon, said he was “unbelievably satisfied” with the Lebanese government’s response to the U.S. proposal calling for Hezbollah to disarm within four months in exchange for Israel halting air strikes and withdrawing its troops from south Lebanon. Barrack also said Hezbollah needed reassurance that it would still have a future in Lebanon as a major political party.

Lebanese Government to Disarm Hezbollah

In July 2025, Saudi news channel Al-Hadath reported that approximately 4,000 Hezbollah operatives were killed and around 2,000 others deserted following the assassination of Nasrallah. It said that Hezbollah still had approximately 60,000 members. The LAF, it noted, controlled about 80% of the territory south of the Litani River.

In August, Lebanon’s government agreed to a landmark plan to decommission Hezbollah’s weapons and assert full sovereignty over southern Lebanon for the first time in over 50 years. The move adopts U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack’s four-stage ceasefire implementation plan from the 2024 war:

Stage 1 (by the end of 2025): Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) take 15 southern positions; Israel halts offensive actions but retains strongpoints; the 1996 monitoring committee resumes work.
Stage 2 (45 days): Lebanon begins disarming militias; Israel withdraws 3 of 5 strongpoints.
Stage 3 (30 days): Hezbollah fully leaves the south; Israel vacates remaining strongpoints; displaced civilians return.
Stage 4 (30 days): All heavy weapons dismantled; IDF south of the border, LAF north, certified.

Hezbollah condemned the decision as a “grave sin” and accused the government of bowing to foreign pressure. Hezbollah and Amal ministers walked out, while anti-Hezbollah factions called the move “historic.”

U.S. envoy Barrack hailed the decision as a bold step toward “one people, one army” and compliance with Resolution 1701 and the Taif Agreement. The LAF has already dismissed a Hezbollah-linked intelligence chief, signaling commitment to the plan.

On September 5, 2025, Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos declared: “The Lebanese army will begin implementing the [Hezbollah disarmament] plan.” He cautioned, however, that this would be “in accordance with the available capabilities, which are limited in terms of logistics, material and human resources.” The details of the government plan were declared secret and approved after Hezbollah and its allies withdrew from the deliberations.

On September 9, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi told AFP the LAF will fully disarm Hezbollah near the border with Israel within three months.

Hezbollah Rebuilds

Orna Mizrahi, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, noted that Hezbollah marked the first anniversary of Hassan Nasrallah’s death on September 27 with mass rallies across Lebanon, glorifying his legacy as the “eternal” leader who transformed Hezbollah into a dominant military and political power. Current leader Naim Qassem vowed to follow Nasrallah’s path and resist disarmament, though he faces internal divisions and lacks his predecessor’s authority.

Nasrallah’s death and the 2024 war left Hezbollah weakened—thousands of fighters killed, 80% of its arsenal destroyed, finances drained, and Syrian supply routes blocked. Despite this, the group remains Lebanon’s most powerful militia, supported by Iran and allied with the Amal movement. The organization continues to rebuild, recruiting new operatives, reestablishing smuggling routes, and providing $1 billion in aid to its base.

Facing mounting domestic and international pressure, Hezbollah has adopted a more pragmatic tone: avoiding direct confrontation with the Lebanese state, refraining from retaliating against Israeli strikes, and signaling willingness to discuss a “defense strategy” after its demands of Israel are met. Still, it refuses to disarm or relinquish its dominant position.

Responding to U.S. and Egyptian pressure on Lebanon’s leaders to open direct negotiations with Israel, Hezbollah sent an open letter to the Lebanese government on November 6, urging Beirut to concentrate on forcing Israel to comply with the ceasefire, rather than “being drawn into political negotiations with the Zionist enemy.”

John Hurley, the U.S. Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, revealed on November 7, 2025, that despite heavy Western sanctions, Iran has managed to funnel approximately $1 billion to Hezbollah in 2025 as it attempts to rebuild. The week before, Washington sanctioned two individuals accused of using money exchanges to support Hezbollah.

Hurley emphasized the opportunity for Lebanon to reclaim its sovereignty if Hezbollah were disarmed, stressing that the key to this would be removing Iranian influence, which is primarily fueled by financial support to the terror group.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah using money exchanges, private businesses, and couriers in Dubai. With Hezbollah facing significant financial strain after last year’s war with Israel—and traditional smuggling routes through Syria disrupted following the fall of the Assad regime—Iran has increasingly relied on Dubai as a key financial hub to channel funds.

Tehran has long used the UAE’s commercial networks to evade sanctions and launder money, and these mechanisms have now become essential to sustaining Hezbollah. Revenue from Iranian oil sales is transferred to Iran-linked exchange houses and companies in Dubai, then sent to Lebanon through the Hawala system. This informal, trust-based money-transfer method requires no physical cash movement. A Hawala broker in Dubai receives the funds, and a counterpart in Lebanon pays Hezbollah, with settlements reconciled later.

See also: The Israel-Hamas War - Operation Iron Sword.

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Air Force chief boasts of ‘unimaginable’ power in future Lebanon war, Times of Israel, (June 21, 2017).
Thomas Joscelyn, Analysis: 2 US cases provide unique window into Iran’s global terror network, Long War Journal, (June 23, 2017).
Yaakov Lappin, “Iran’s Lebanese Missile Factories in ‘New and Very Dangerous Phase,’” The Investigative Project on Terrorism, (July 18, 2017).
Itamar Eichner, “Israel tells UN: Hezbollah set up observation posts under guise of green organization,” Ynet, (June 22, 2017).
U.S. Believes Hezbollah Determined to Develop Attack Capability Inside U.S., Haaretz (October 10, 2017).
Chandrika Narayan, “Lebanon’s Prime Minister resigns, plunging nation into new political crisis,” CNN, (November 5, 2017).
“Jubeir: Hezbollah is ‘First-class Terrorist Organization,’” Asharq Al-Awsat, (November 16, 2017).
Nada Homsi, Hezbollah Leader Calls for Arab Countries to Stop Seeking New Ties With Israel, New York Times, (December 11, 2017).
Colin P. Clarke, “Hezbollah Has Been Active in America For Decades,” The National Interest, (August 26, 2017).
Matthew Levitt, “How Trump Is Going After Hezbollah in America’s Backyard,” Politico, (November 30, 2017).
Zaid Sabah, Arab League Condemns Iran, Calls Hezbollah a Terrorist Group,” Bloomberg, (November 19, 2017).
Roi Kais, Nasrallah ’proud of delivering anti-tank missiles to Gaza’, YNet News, (November 20, 2017).
“Parliament supports Hezbollah ban,” BICOM, (January 26, 2018).
Missy Ryan, United States unveils sanctions designed to strangle Iranian-backed Hezbollah, Washington Post, (February 2, 2018).
US and Argentina to work together against Hezbollah, Yahoo News, (February 4, 2018).
Yoav Zitun and Liad Osmo, The new wall aimed at stopping Hezbollah fighters, YNet News, (February 8, 2018).
“Hezbollah operations in Colombia revealed,” Ynet, (April 8, 2018).
“U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Top Hezbollah Officials in Lebanon, Including Nasrallah,” Reuters, (May 16, 2018).
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U.S. Department of Justice.
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Daniel Siryoti, Adi Hashmonai and Ariel Kahana, “Report: Hezbollah is training Hamas operatives in Lebanon,” Israel Hayom, (June 10, 2018).
Argentina freezes assets of suspected Hezbollah fundraising network, JTA, (July 16, 2018).
Treasury Targets Hizballah Fundraising Network in the Triple Frontier of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, U.S. Treasury Department, (December 2, 2006).
Emanuele Ottolenghi, “Hezbollah’s Tri-Border Area terror finance comes under fire at last,” Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, (August 12, 2018).
Yonah Jeremy Bob, “Ex-Deputy Mossad Chief: Idf Didn’t Fully Stop New Hezbollah Rocket Tech,” Jerusalem Post, (September 7, 2018).
Ilan Ben Zion, “Israeli wall rising near border with Lebanon stokes tensions,” AP, (September 7, 2018).
Yaniv Kubovich, “Senior IDF Official: Hezbollah Controls Lebanon’s Army, We Won’t Distinguish Between Them in Next War,” Haaretz, (September 6, 2018).
Jonathan Stempel, “Iran ordered to pay $104.7 million over 1996 truck bomb attack U.S. judge,” Reuters, (September 11, 2018).
“U.S. cracks down on transnational organized crime including Hezbollah: Sessions,” Reuters, (October 15, 2018).
Katherine Bauer, Hanin Ghaddar, & Assaf Orion, “Iran’s Precision Missile Project,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, (2018).
“Israel says Hezbollah closed precision missile plants, arsenal limited,” Reuters, (December 19, 2018).
Uri Bollag, “Hezbollah Established New Missile Factory In Beirut- Report,” Jerusalem Post, (April 2, 2019).
Judith Bergman, “UK Bans Hezbollah,” Gatestone Institute, (March 23, 2019).
Sylvan Lane, “Treasury targets Hezbollah financiers under sanctions,” The Hill, (April 24, 2019).
Liz Sly and Suzan Haidamous, “Trump’s sanctions on Iran are hitting Hezbollah, and it hurts,” Washington Post, (May 18, 2019).
“Footage appears to show Hezbollah adopting Gaza arson tactics against Israel,” Times of Israel, (August 19, 2019).
Raghida Dergham, “US administration is cutting off the oxygen supply to Tehran’s proxies,” The National, (August 17, 2019).
Lisa Kashinsky, “Feds arrest alleged Hezbollah agent who scouted Boston for terrorism targets,” Boston Herald, (September 19, 2019).
Tom Winter and Robert Windrem, “Hezbollah ‘sleeper’ agent in New York gets 40-year prison sentence,” NBCnews.com, (December 3, 2019).
Soeren Kern, “German Parliament: Its Resolution to Ban Hezbollah is Just a Legal Charade,” Gatestone Institute, (December 23, 2019).
“UK expands Hezbollah asset freeze, targets entire movement,” Reuters, (January 17, 2020).
“Pompeo praises 3 South American countries for declaring Hezbollah a terror group,” Times of Israel, (January 21, 2020)
Mengqi Sun and Ian Talley, “U.S. Blacklists Lebanese Companies, Individuals With Alleged Ties to Hezbollah,” Wall Street Journal, (February 26, 2020).
Benjamin Weinthal, “Germany outlaws Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah,” Fox News, (April 30, 2020).
Yaakov Lappin, “US sanctions ex-Lebanese ministers for allegedly supporting Hezbollah,” JNS, (September 8, 2020).
“US sanctions two officials from Lebanon’s Hezbollah,” Reuters, (October 23, 2020).
“Rewards for Justice – Up to $10 Million Reward Offer for Information on Hizballah’s Financial Networks: Muhammad Qasir, Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal, and Ali Qasir,” State Department, (October 23, 2020).
Khaled Abu Toameh, “Lebanon Wants an End to Iranian Occupation,” Gatestone Institute, (January 15, 2021).
Tal Beeri, “Hezbollah’s Missile and Rocket Arrays: A Tough and Complex Challenge for Israel,” Alma, (May 2021).
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“Germany carries out raids on Hezbollah-linked groups,” DW, (May 19, 2021).
Kali Robinson, “What Is Hezbollah?” Council on Foreign Relations, (October 26, 2021).
Larry Neumeister, “Jury returns mixed verdict in New York terrorism case,” AP, (May 11, 2022).
Marc Daou, “Arrival of Israeli gas installation reignites Lebanon maritime border dispute,” France24, (June 7, 2022).
“Ninth Meeting of the Law Enforcement Coordination Group Focused on Countering Hizballah’s Terrorist Activities,” U.S. Department of State, (July 1, 2022).
Zvi Bar’el, “Hezbollah’s Drones Are Aimed at Lebanon’s President Too,” Haaretz, (July 4, 2022).
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Amir Bohbot, “Secret Hezbollah gold trade in South America foiled by Israeli intelligence,” Jerusalem Post, (February 26, 2023).
“Hezbollah Builds 27 New Bases on Lebanese Border Under Cover of Fake NGO,” Jewish Press, (May 9, 2023).|
Larry Neumeister, “Software engineer who photographed US landmarks for possible attacks gets 12 years in prison,” AP, (May 23, 2023).
Hanna Davis, “Inside Hezbollah’s wargames near the Israeli border,” Axios, (May 24, 2023).
“Hezbollah members accused over Irish peacekeeper killing -source,” Reuters, (June 1, 2023).
Emanuel Fabian, “Gallant warns Hezbollah against escalation: ‘We’ll return Lebanon to the Stone Age,’” Times of Israel, (August 8, 2023).
“Truthful Promise,” Tehran Times, (August 15, 2023).
Lazar Berman, “Security Council extends UNIFIL peacekeepers’ mandate, rejects Hezbollah demands,” Times of Israel, (August 31, 2023).
Emanuel Fabian, “Iran building airport in southern Lebanon to attack Israelis, Gallant says,” Times of Israel, (September 11, 2023).
“In First-Ever Iranian Acknowledgment Of Iran’s Role In 1980s Lebanon Bombings, Issa Tabatabai, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei’s Representative In Lebanon, States: ‘I Received From Imam Khomeini The Fatwa [Ordering] Martyrdom Operations Against The Americans’; ‘I Provided What Was Needed In Order To [Carry Out] Martyrdom Operations In The Place Where The Americans And Israelis Were,’” (MEMRI, September 28, 2023).
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Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehayeb, “5 Hezbollah fighters are killed as tensions flare along the border between Lebanon and Israel,” AP, (October 17, 2023).
Kareem Chehayeb and Bassem Mroue, “Hezbollah destroys Israeli surveillance cameras along the Lebanese border as tension soars,” AP, (October 18, 2023).
Emanuel Fabian, “IDF intercepts drones over north, foils Hezbollah missile squads,” Times of Israel, (October 23, 2023).
Fadi Amun, “Hezbollah Chief Meets With Hamas, Islamic Jihad Leaders in Lebanon, Talk Ways for ‘Real Gaza Victory,’” Haaretz, (October 25, 2023).
Abby Sewell, “Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah leader threatens escalation with Israel as its war with Hamas rages on,” AP, (November 3, 2023).
“Mossad: Hezbollah cell had plans to attack Brazilian Jewish community,” JNS, (November 8, 2023).
Vivian Salama, Dion Nissenbaum, and Benoit Faucon, “Biden Convinced Netanyahu to Halt a Pre-Emptive Strike Against Hezbollah,” Wall Street Journal, (December 23, 2023).
“Report: IAF was airborne for preemptive Hezbollah hit when Biden talked PM out of it,” Times of Israel, (December 24, 2023).
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Tal Schneider, “Expert: Hezbollah has built a vast tunnel network far more sophisticated than Hamas’s,” Times of Israel, (January 2, 2024).
Jacob Magid, “US dispatches senior envoy to cool seething tensions on Israel-Lebanon border,” Times of Israel, (January 4, 2024).
Jennie Taer, “Illegal migrant from Lebanon caught at border admitted he’s a Hezbollah terrorist hoping ‘to make a bomb’ — and was headed for NY,” New York Post, (March 17, 2024).
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“Spain and Germany arrest 4 people for supplying Hezbollah with parts for drones used against Israel,” AP, (July 18, 2024).
Emanuel Fabian, “IDF kills top Hezbollah commander in Beirut in response to deadly Majdal Shams attack,” Times of Israel, (July 30, 2024).
Emanuel Fabian, “Hagari: Aqil, top Hezbolah commanders were underground, below a residential building when hit,” Times of Israel, (September 20, 2024).
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Emanuel Fabian, “Aiming to enable return of displaced Israelis, IDF pushes deeper into south Lebanon,” Times of Israel, (November 22, 2024).
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Emanuel Fabian, “Iranian plane suspected of ferrying arms to Hezbollah blocked by IAF over Syria overnight,” Times of Israel, (December 1, 2024).
Itamar Eichner, “US warns Israel it is violating cease-fire in Lebanon,” Ynet, (December 2, 2024).
Lior Ben Ari, Yoav Zitun, Yossi Yehoshua, “IDF prepares strikes in response to cease-fire violations following Hezbollah fire,” Ynet, (December 2, 2024).
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Adam Chamseddine, Rory Jones, “Hezbollah, Once Dominant in Lebanon, Shows New Signs of Weakness,” WSJ, (February 23, 2025).
Boaz Shapira, Tal Beeri, “Iran’s Military Aid to Hezbollah’s Rehabilitation – Involved Units,” ALMA, (February 24, 2025).
“Treasury Targets Hizballah Finance Team Sanctions Evasion Network,” U.S. Department of Treasury, (March 28, 2025).
Stav Levaton, “Hezbollah-linked drone smuggling ring uncovered in Europe – report,” Times of Israel, (April 14, 2025).
“Hezbollah ready to lay down weapons if Israel withdraws from Lebanon, official says,” Reuters, (April 15, 2025).
“Lebanese President Says Disarmament Decision Has Been Taken,” Asharq Al Awsat, (April 21, 2025).
Ailin Vilches Arguello, “US Offers Up to $10 Million for Information on Hezbollah’s Financial Networks in Latin America,” Algemeiner, (May 19, 2025).
Nurit Yohanan, “Saudi report estimates 4,000 Hezbollah fighters killed in war with Israel, another 2,000 deserted after Nasrallah’s death,” Times of Israel, (July 3, 2025).
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“US official: Iran funneled some $1 billion to Hezbollah this year, despite sanctions,” Times of Israel, (November 9, 2025).
Dov Lieber, Omar Abdel-Baqui, and Summer Said, “Iranian Funds for Hezbollah Are Flowing Through Dubai,” Wall Street Journal, (November 27, 2025).
Adam Kredo, “Hezbollah, Short on Support From Iran, Turns to Drug Trafficking in Venezuela To Fill Its Coffers,” Washington Free Beacon, (December 23, 2025).
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Asrar Chbaro , “Venezuela, Hezbollah and the ‘Keys’ to 130 Countries,” Al Hurrah, (January 6, 2026).

Hezbollah rocket table - Tal Beeri and Boaz Shapira, “Heavy Missiles and Rockets in Hezbollah’s Arsenal,” Alma, (November 19, 2024).

About Mitchell Bard

Hezbollah:History & Overview

Hezbollah:
History & Overview