Hezbollah rearms for possible renewed war with Israel using Iranian cash, sources tell Reuters

Right · 2Hezbollah has spent three months preparing for a possible resumption of hostilities with Israel after receiving an infusion of cash from Iran, according to Lebanese security personnel briefed on its activities, in a Reuters report dated 26 October. 1 2 Right · 2Two Lebanese security sources said the group has used a lull in hostilities since June to rearm, focusing on procuring explosives and producing drones that can be flown into Israeli positions. 1 3 Right · 2One of those sources and another source close to Hezbollah said Iran gave it tens of millions of dollars to boost its military capabilities, on top of about $200 million Reuters reported earlier this month. 1 2

Right · 2The group has been restoring command-and-control structures that broke down in key battles, according to one of those sources and three other security officials; Hezbollah's media office rejected the suggestion that its command-and-control systems had broken down. 1 3 Right · 2The sources cited losses at Bint Jbeil and the Ali al-Taher ridge, where Hezbollah's use of small units and rationing of anti-tank rockets left some units isolated against Israel's remotely operated systems, including weaponised drones and armed remote-controlled vehicles; the Israeli military said it uses such systems to monitor southern Lebanon and reduce troops' exposure. 2 1 Right · 1The sources said Hezbollah has not yet fully prepared its stockpiles or fighting force; this month it acknowledged that explosives seized by Lebanese authorities were its own and intended for use against Israel, which a Hezbollah official and a Lebanese security source said were for explosive drones. 1

Right · 2Israel's military declined to comment, Iran's UN mission in Geneva did not immediately respond, a US State Department spokesman said Washington would keep strangling Hezbollah's finances through sanctions, and a US Treasury spokesperson said Iran was running out of money and ways to move it. 1 3 Right · 2Hezbollah's media office said Israel's occupation of Lebanese land made resistance a legitimate right, and that it was wary of giving Israeli leaders justification to escalate, but it has not said explicitly whether it would join fresh hostilities. 1 2 Right · 2Background: Hezbollah opened fire in support of Iran on 2 March after the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February, and Reuters says the Israeli offensive that followed killed more than 4,000 people and uprooted a quarter of Lebanon's population; hostilities largely abated over the summer under an interim Iran-US deal, and full-scale fighting has not resumed despite that deal's collapse, though Israel continues strikes in the south. 2 1

Right · 2Hezbollah is on alert for a possible US-Iran escalation that could reopen the Lebanon front, while Israeli forces occupy villages in southern Lebanon and political pressure for its disarmament has built in Beirut. 2 1