“ No one is no longer afraid of Hezbollah ‘

(April 7, 2025 / Jns)

While Hezbollah continues to be represented in the Lebanese government, the devastating campaign of Israel “Operation Northern Arrows” has considerably weakened the terrorist group not only militarily, but politically and financially, according to Israeli experts.

Israel eliminated up to 4,000 Hezbollah agents in the 11th month The operation, including senior leaders such as secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, before a cease-fire which came into force on November 27, 2024. The terrorist also lost the majority of his strategic weapons, according to Israeli military assessments.

Although it is considerably weakened, the Lebanese government has always allowed Hezbollah in its ranks despite the pressure of the Trump administration to leave them outside. Hezbollah and its Shiite allies of the Amal movement still retain five higher ministerial posts in the 24 -minute government formed by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on February 9, 2025.

“Even if (presidential American assistant sent special to the Middle East) Morgan Ortagus warned against a hezbollah presence in the government, the Lebanese are world champions by bypassing international requests, and in a sophisticated manner, brought them,” said Lieutenant-Colonel (res.) Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center.

Despite this, however, Zehavi noted that, critically, Hezbollah no longer has a veto in power on the Lebanese political system as they did in previous governments.

This, in addition that Hezbollah is much lower than before, with most of its leaders, represents a “gold opportunity” to really make changes in Lebanon, she told JNS.

Dr. Jaques Neriah, senior colleagues in the Middle East affairs in Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, said, declaring that the political influence of Hezbollah has weakened.

After being defeated by Israel, Hezbollah finds itself in a very difficult position not only politically, but financially, added Neriah, which was raised in Lebanon and served for 24 years in the Israel Intelligence Community.

The independent extraterritorial banking system of Hezbollah, known as “Qard al-Hassan” (Arab for “good loan”), has collapsed, he said.

“This bank had two million customers, its own ATM machines and thirty offices,” he said. Most of these offices were destroyed by Israel, “, which put Hezbollah in terrible straits because they cannot return gold and customer jewelry,” he continued.

(The bank used a guarantee system by which the Lebanese stored their gold and their jewelry as guarantee and receive uninteresting loans.)

This said Neriah, led Hezbollah to try to steal money in Lebanon from Iran. “However, Israel warned the United States that it would bomb the tarmac from Beirut airport, so this practice has stopped. Therefore, Hezbollah is in deep financial crisis,” he added.

Adding to Hezbollah misfortunes is the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Neriah told JNS.

“They no longer have a territorial link between Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. This also hinders their logistics with regard to obtaining weapons, which have been stored in Syrian tunnels. It was an important strategic asset, “he said.

Currently, the terrorist group is divided into two factions, according to Neriah. A branch recognizes the group’s defeat by Israel and is willing to put their arms back and integrate into Lebanon as a political party according to resolution 1701 of the United Nations Security Council, he said.

The other group believes that the only legitimacy of Hezbollah lies in the fight against Israel, and that if they stop doing it, they do not have the right to exist as a movement, he added.

According to Neriah, it is this last group which is at the origin of the recent launch of Rockets in Israel since Lebanon, despite the refusals of responsibility of the terrorist organization.

Their objective is double, he said: to show that Hezbollah is still present and push Israel to act (militarily) in order to convince the Lebanese public that the government has no power and cannot push Israel outside Lebanon.

“According to their logic, if the government cannot do so, there is no reason to respect the ceasefire, and” resistance “can resume,” said Neriah.

As for the reasons why the Lebanese army fails to curb Hezbollah and grasp its weapons by ceasefire arrangement, Neriah attributed it to the fact that around 60% of Lebanese soldiers are Shiite Muslims, most of them having roots in southern Lebanon. Thus, in many cases, he said, facing Hezbollah means that soldiers take up arms against their own family.

This being the case, and with Neriah assessing that the terrorist group will not voluntarily disarm, Israel will be required to maintain a military presence in southern Lebanon “for a long time,” he said.

Dr. Edy Cohen, a researcher at Israel Center for Grand Strategy and expert in the Arab world, told JNS that the pre-war Hezbollah under Nasrallah and Hezbollah today were actually different organizations.

“Hezbollah has never been so weak. This is the first time they are fighting,” said Cohen, who like Neriah has grown in Lebanon.

According to Cohen, Hezbollah still has ministers in government with Amal is not relevant due to the current circumstances in which the terrorist group is located.

With the death of Nasrallah, Hezbollah was forced to accept the election of Joseph Aoun as president in January, and the formation of the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, even though the two officials publicly called the disarmament of Hezbollah, he noted.

Hezbollah, he said, has essentially been reduced to a social protection organization using the funding that remains to help their supporters affected by war.

Nevertheless, as Neriah Cohen believes that the Lebanese army never combat Hezbollah. He shared that when he lived in Beirut, a neighboring family had a child in the Lebanese army while two others were members of Hezbollah.

“Most Lebanese soldiers are Shiite. They are poor and without instruction, so they go to the army as well as to Hezbollah,” he said. In a very real way, Hezbollah and the Lebanese armed forces are linked, he added.

Despite this, however, the influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon has been considerably reduced, he continued.

“The citizens of Lebanon now speak openly against the organization and against Nasrallah and against Naim Qassem,” he told Jns de Nasrallah. “The Lebanese would not dare to do it when Nasrallah was alive. No one is afraid of Hezbollah anymore. ”