By Laila Bassam, Tom Perry, Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT (Reuters) – With the bodies of its fighters still on the battlefield, Hezbollah must bury its dead and provide aid to its supporters suffering from Israeli attacks, the first step on a long and expensive road to recovery, four. a senior official said.
Hezbollah believes the number of fighters killed in the 14 months of hostilities could be in the thousands, with the majority killed since Israel struck in September, three sources familiar with the operation said, citing unreported internal estimates.
One source said the Iran-backed group may have lost as many as 4,000 people – more than 10 times the number killed in the 2006 war with Israel. So far, Lebanese authorities say 3,800 people have been killed in the current hostilities, without distinguishing between fighters and civilians.
Hezbollah emerged shaken from top to bottom, its leadership still reeling from the assassination of its former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and its supporters left en masse homeless by carpet bombings in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the destruction of entire villages in the south.
With the cease-fire on Wednesday, Hezbollah’s agenda includes working to completely rebuild its organizational structure, attempting to breach the security that helped Israel receive so many painful blows, and a comprehensive review of last year including the mistake of underestimating Israel’s technological capabilities. three other sources familiar with the group think said.
For this story, Reuters spoke to dozens of people who together described some of the challenges Hezbollah faces as it seeks to rebuild itself after the war. Most asked not to be named to talk about sensitive matters.
Hassan Fadallah, a senior Hezbollah politician, told Reuters the priority would be “the people.”
“To shelter, remove the ruins, say goodbye to the martyrs and, in the next phase, rebuild,” he said.
Israel’s campaign has focused largely on the Shiite Muslim heartlands of Hezbollah, where its supporters have been badly hit. They are among those still nursing victims of an Israeli attack on mobile communication devices in September.
“I have a brother who was martyred, a brother-in-law who was wounded in the fence attack, and my neighbors and relatives are all martyred, wounded or missing,” said Hawraa, a woman from southern Lebanon with family members fighting for Hezbollah.
“We want to gather our martyrs and bury them … we want to rebuild our homes,” said Hawraa, who lived in his village until he was forced to flee by Israeli attacks in September. He declined to use his full name, citing security fears.
The Israeli offensive displaced more than 1 million people, most of them from areas where Hezbollah had sway.
A senior Lebanese official familiar with Hizbullah’s thinking said the group’s focus would be immediately on securing their return and rebuilding their homes: “Hezbollah is like the wounded. Do the wounded wake up and fight? The wounded must heal their wounds. .”
The official expects Hezbollah to undertake a broad policy review after the war, addressing all the major issues: Israel, its weapons, and Lebanon’s internal politics, where its weapons have long been a point of conflict.
Iran, which founded Hezbollah in 1982, has pledged to help with reconstruction. The cost is enormous: The World Bank estimates $2.8 billion in damage to homes in Lebanon alone, with 99,000 homes partially or completely destroyed.
A senior Lebanese official said Tehran had various ways of getting funds to Hezbollah, without giving details.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, has urged wealthy Lebanese Shiites in the diaspora to send funds to help the displaced, two Lebanese officials said.
The official also expects significant donations from Shia religious foundations in the region.
Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a detailed request for comment for this story. Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
THE ‘RESISTANCE’ WILL CONTINUE
Hezbollah has shown that it intends to keep its hand, dashing the hopes of Lebanon’s enemies who predict that the pressure created by the war will eventually lead to the country. Hezbollah officials say the resistance – which is widely understood to mean armed status – will continue.
Hezbollah opened fire in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas on October 8, 2023. Israel attacked the group in September, saying it aimed to secure 60,000 people evacuated from their homes in the north.
Despite the damage caused, Hezbollah’s Fadlallah said the resistance put up by fighters in southern Lebanon and the increasing number of rockets fired at the end of the conflict showed Israel had failed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the campaign had set Hezbollah back decades, removed its top leadership, destroyed most of its rockets, neutralized thousands of fighters, and destroyed infrastructure near the border.
A senior U.S. official said Hezbollah is “very, very strong” now, both militarily and politically. A Western diplomat echoed that assessment, saying Israel has the upper hand and has almost dictated the withdrawal terms.
The terms of the ceasefire agreed by Israel and Lebanon require Hezbollah to have no military presence in the area between the Israeli border and the Litani River, which meets the Mediterranean Sea about 30 km (20 miles) from the border.
Hezbollah, which approved the deal, has not yet announced how it intends to help implement the terms, including whether to actively surrender its arms to Lebanese forces deployed in the south, or leave weapons for the soldiers.
Israel complains Hezbollah, which is rooted in southern Lebanon, once used the same terms when they agreed to end the war before the 2006 war. Israel says that the group is preparing large-scale attacks into northern Israel, pointing to military developments on the border.
Andreas Krieg of King’s College in London said Hezbollah has considerable capabilities.
The performance of “core infantry fighters in southern Lebanon and rocket attacks into Israeli territory in recent days shows the group is still very capable,” he said.
“But Hezbollah will be very stuck in the effort to rebuild the infrastructure and most importantly, secure the funds to do it,” he said.
‘PAY DEBT’
Hezbollah has given money to those affected by the hostilities since it began, paying $200 a month to civilians living in frontline villages, and offering more as people are forced to flee the area, according to recipients.
Since the beginning of the escalation in September, Hezbollah has been paying about $300 a month to help displaced families.
The group has made no secret of its military and financial support from Iran, which sent cash in 2006 to help the homeless and help rebuild.
Hezbollah supporters say more is on the way. One, citing a conversation with a local Hezbollah official, said the group would cover a year’s rent for the homeless in addition to the cost of furniture.
Addressing the Lebanese people in an October sermon, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “the damage will be replaced…paying the debt to the wounded, the bleeding Lebanon is our duty…”.
The World Bank, in preliminary estimates, caused Lebanon $8.5 billion in damages and losses, a bill that the government could not meet, still suffering from the consequences of the catastrophic financial collapse five years ago.
The Gulf states of Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia helped foot the $5 billion reconstruction bill in 2006, the last time Hezbollah and Israel went to war. But there is no sign yet that these Sunni-led Arab countries are ready to do so again.
Hezbollah did much of the reconstruction work after the 2006 war, financed by Iran and using its construction wing. The project was directed by Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, the Hezbollah leader who was killed by Israel 11 days after Nasrallah, a sign of the greater challenges he will face this time around.
“For Hezbollah, the priority is to ensure the loyalty of the Shiite community. The damage has been enormous and will impact the organization,” said Mohanand Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
