Search

Iran leveraging ceasefire to rebuild Hezbollah – report

After the terror group’s heavy losses in the recent conflict, it is more dependent than ever on Iranian support to survive.

By World Israel News Staff

Iran is using the current ceasefire as an opportunity to rebuild and rearm Hezbollah, its largest proxy group on Israel’s northern border, as well as activate other Shia militias in the region to attack Israel.

Despite bombastic statements from Hezbollah declaring victory over Israel, Iran views the terror group has having lost to Israel, as over 4,000 of its members were killed and thousands more were wounded.

While some have suggested that Iran may cut its losses and focus on its other proxy groups – such as the Houthis in Yemen and various Shia militias in Iraq and Syria – one Iran expert noted the long-term investment that Tehran has made in Hezbollah.

“The Iranian relationship with Hezbollah doesn’t end with this defeat to Israeli forces,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at London’s Chatham House think tank, told the Post.

“This is a relationship that was nurtured and cultivated over decades. The relationship will certainly live on.”

Within Hezbollah, there is some lingering anger over Iran’s lack of direct intervention to spare the terror group from heavy losses during the conflict with Israel.

Though Iran flew Hezbollah terrorists for treatment in Iranian hospitals after the beeper explosions, Iran did not directly attack Israel in order to save the terror group.

Many in Lebanon have expressed anger over Hezbollah for bringing Iranian influence into the country and its parliament, in which Hezbollah’s political branch has representatives.

Hezbollah loyalists have argued that the terror group is a Lebanese-born “liberation group,” aiming to protect Lebanon from Israeli aggression.

But after the terror group’s heavy losses in the recent conflict, it is more dependent than ever on Iranian support to rebuild.

“Iran is prepared to allocate funds for reconstruction and to ensure Hezbollah’s survival, as well as to maintain support within the Shiite community,” a person with inside knowledge of Hezbollah’s internal politics told the Washington Post.

“However, this support is now more directly under Iranian influence,” he added, explaining that Hezbollah believes Iran will send field agents to ensure that the funding is being used properly, as well as to provide military training to surviving members of the terror group.