Will Hezbollah move inside Syria again? A report answers

The Israeli newspaper “Jerusalem Post” published a new report that spoke about the new stage awaiting Hezbollah after the funeral of the Hezbollah Secretary -General, Mr. Hassan Nasrallah, on Sunday, February 23.

The report that translated it says Lebanon 24 Iranian officials flocked to Lebanon to attend the funeral of Nasrallah, and added: “Before they left Lebanon, the head of the Iranian Shura Council, Muhammad Baqir Qalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqji, Secretary -General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem.”

He continued: “What happened explains that Iran still has great expectations for Hezbollah, as the latter has been somewhat weakened by Israel within two months of fighting from September to October 2024.”

He continued: “Nasrallah’s funeral was expected to be a review of the power of Hezbollah on February 23, as it brought together supporters of Iran from all over the region, especially from Iraq.”

The report raised a basic question: “Can Hezbollah be able to recover from the strikes it received?” He added: “On February 23, 2025, Qasim delivered a letter for half an hour at the funeral that he did not attend while the speech was in advance and confirmed that Hezbollah will continue its resistance.”

He continued: “Nevertheless, it is not clear whether Hezbollah will try to restore its arsenal, rehabilitation and construction to strike Israel in the future. The Iranian leaders who visited Beirut, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mjtaba Amani, who was wounded after the bombing of the Bajar during the month of September 2024. Also, the Iranians met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

The report notes that “Hezbollah is facing many challenges, as it suffers from funding problems in the wake of the war,” and added: “The party has not only lost a large number of leaders and fighters, but also parts of its arsenal, but he cannot pay the salaries of its elements.”

He continued: “This constitutes a great headache for the party at the present time. Likewise, Israel continues to show that it will target Hezbollah members who threaten Israel, as the latter still maintains 5 strategic locations near the border.
On the other hand, the report quotes the “Arab News” website as saying that “Hezbollah is still the most powerful armed entity in Lebanon,” explaining that “the party’s critics see that it is undermining the sovereignty of the state while Hezbollah blames external parties for the challenges facing the state.”

The report saw that “the main challenge that Hezbollah is now facing is to return to southern Lebanon and rebuild its arsenal, which may take years,” and continued: “But Hezbollah was in this situation before. After 2006, he had to rebuild his arsenal, and at that time he had about 13,000 shells. By 2023, he had about 200,000 missiles, shells, and a drone.

The report says that “it is likely that the party still possesses about 10 to 20 thousand missiles and another shell,” explaining that “what contributed to the weakening of Hezbollah to some extent is its participation in the Syrian war.”

He continued: “With the departure of former Syrian President Bashar al -Assad, Hezbollah will need to find new smuggling ways. Likewise, the Israeli air strikes in southern Syria now led to a new policy as Israel does not want the new Syrian forces to deploy in the south of the country.

He continued: “It is possible for Hezbollah to take advantage of this vacuum in power in southern Syria to infiltrate again to those areas.

The report stated that “Hezbollah takes advantage of time, and this is its goal, as it wants to wait and see and then work slowly to erode the authority of the president and the new Prime Minister in Lebanon.”

Source:
Translated by “Lebanon 24”