**Hezbollah Faces a Critical Dilemma: The New Era of Middle East Instability**
For years, Hezbollah was considered the world’s premier non-state actor: well-equipped, well-trained, well-led, highly disciplined, and secretive, it was the crown jewel of Iran’s Middle East allies.
In May 2000, the group successfully ousted Israel from southern Lebanon after a grueling guerrilla conflict. Six years later, it fought Israel to a standstill in a 34-day war. Since then, the Iran-backed group has built up its arsenal of missiles and drones.
In Syria, its troops have fought alongside Iran and Russia against opposition to the Assad regime. Over the past 11 months, Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israel along the border almost every day, forcing more than 62,000 Israelis to flee their homes in the Jewish state’s north (while more than 100,000 Lebanese have fled the border area).
This summer, however, the façade of strength began to crack. On the evening of July 30, an Israeli drone fired two missiles at a residential building in southern Beirut, killing top Hezbollah commander Fu’ad Shukr. And on Tuesday, at approximately 3:30 p.m. Beirut time, hundreds, if not thousands, of pagers exploded in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, injuring nearly 3,000 people and killing at least 12.
On Wednesday afternoon, a new wave of explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs and cities in the south of the country, killing at least nine people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Many of the devices that exploded were walkie-talkies, as seen in the footage.
While Hezbollah has yet to release precise figures, it is clear that many of its rank and file were injured in the blasts.
Taken together, the missile attack and the explosive devices represent a dramatic Israeli infiltration into Hezbollah’s critical command and control networks.
Never has the group been so vulnerable, never has it been so compromised.
Hezbollah has promised revenge on Israel. Its credibility depends on it. But what can it do in practice?
Not much, its recent record suggests.
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