Iran, Hezbollah and newfound confidence?

“We were considered finished a little too quickly. » It is with these terms that a Hezbollah executive comments on the situation of the formation and the positions of numerous local and foreign parties. It is true, this executive recognizes, that the blows dealt to Hezbollah in recent weeks were very harsh. First the attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies, then the assassinations of most military officials and emblematic figures up to the charismatic and symbolic Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. We must also add the pressures exerted on the popular environment of Hezbollah, through the systematic destruction of localities in the South and the neighborhoods of the southern suburbs, as well as through the harassment to which this same environment is subject in its refuges. in different regions of the country. No other formation could have survived all these blows… except Hezbollah, affirms the same executive. According to him, after the assassination of the “sayyed” in the conditions which are known to all, and the reality of the infiltrations within the formation which pushed the survivors for a moment to doubt everything, there were a few days of uncertainty. . But quickly, Hezbollah managed to recompose its military command by filling all the vacant positions with people who are not known to the general public.

After the first shock, the priority was therefore to restructure the military branch, the one that Nasrallah called the mujahideen, especially the fighters who are in the South. It was about re-establishing communication with them and asking about their needs. Which seems to have been achieved. Today, more than two weeks after the start of what the Jewish state calls “a limited ground operation”, Israeli soldiers have failed to set up positions inside Lebanese soil, according to this official. Hezb. Close-range fighting has been carried out and so far, they have all ended in favor of Hezbollah. The units are therefore in their place, along the front. Hezbollah’s framework is categorical: the Israelis will not be able to occupy the South, even partially, even if they launch a large-scale offensive. Still according to him, 90% of the military structure is functioning again, in the South and elsewhere, and there is even a communication network between the different fronts and with the command. In terms of missiles, the aforementioned framework affirms that Hezbollah still has large reserves. Proof of this is that it launches nearly 100 missiles every day towards Israeli positions. On the other hand, the losses are more consistent in terms of long-range heavy missiles. But there are still some, he assures, and what’s more, the transport routes are still partly open. As soon as one closes, another opens and the party is therefore, according to this framework, able to resist on the front as long as necessary. In terms of numbers, there are nearly 25,000 fighters ready to fight and if necessary, others are also ready to do so. So far, heavy missiles have not yet been used, because Hezbollah says it does not want to give the Israelis a pretext to expand the scope of their attacks to civilian installations and infrastructure. But he will not hesitate to do so if necessary.

What allowed Hezbollah to pull itself together after the shock of the first days? The aforementioned framework recognizes that Iran played a big role in this. First, reeling from the loss of Nasrallah and almost the entire team at the helm, Hezbollah supporters felt a sense of disappointment and loneliness, fearing that they had been abandoned by everyone. But from the speech of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Ali Khamenei in Arabic, addressed to Hezbollah and its supporters, the morale of the party and its supporters skyrocketed. Khamenei has also clearly said that he considers that Hezbollah and its supporters are now under his responsibility, because this is what he owes to Nasrallah. He even indirectly committed to fulfilling all the promises made by the latter in his recent speeches.

These remarks were followed by visits to Lebanon by the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, which confirmed the Islamic Republic’s support for Hezbollah and Lebanon in general in this open conflict with the Israelis. According to this Hezbollah framework, the Islamic Republic considers that the battle taking place in the region, from Gaza to Lebanon and with the participation of other fronts, is its own, because it is essentially directed against the whole of ” the axis of resistance”, and it is intended to ensure Israel’s superiority over the region as well as to bury the rights of the Palestinians. Iran would therefore have transmitted the following message to the Lebanese and in particular to Hezbollah: the Islamic Republic considers that this is an existential battle and if it is attacked by the Israelis, it will retaliate accordingly without taking into account any more red lines, just as it will not let Hezbollah feel like a loser. It is therefore with this renewed support that Hezbollah decided to take its attacks to the next level on Sunday evening. At the same time, according to the party cadre, the party is preparing to resume its meetings and political activities, and information on this subject should start reaching the media quickly. Hezbollah thus believes that it has overcome the shock and resumed its combativeness, with even more determination than before, out of loyalty to the memory of the “sayyed”. The field will tell if this newfound confidence will be enough to really allow Hezbollah to overcome the blows received.