Hezbollah limits US-Iran intervention to existential threats, official says
Hezbollah is not likely to join in if the United States and Iran renew military operations against each other unless Iran’s leadership faces an existential threat, according to a Saturday report from United Arab Emirates state-owned news outlet, The National.
Hezbollah would, according to a senior Lebanese official, join the fight despite its weakened military capacity if the Iranian regime’s survival was found to be at stake.
The official said that an explicit red line was crossed in the previous bout, when the Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli strike on February 28.
“We knew earlier this year, when the war in the region first broke out, that Hezbollah would join the fighting if [late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei were killed,” said the anonymous official. “We even informed the Americans about it.”
KAN news reported last month that Hezbollah terror operatives have maintained their presence in southern Lebanon’s pilot zones, gathering intelligence and recuperating their fighting ability.
Hezbollah rearming with Iranian funds
Hezbollah has spent at least three months preparing for a resumption of hostilities with Israel, after receiving an infusion of cash from Iran, according to Lebanese security personnel briefed on its activities.
The terror organization remains committed to attacking Israel and has used a lull in hostilities since June to rearm, with a focus on procuring explosives and producing drones that can be flown into the security zone, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters.
One of the sources, and another close to Hezbollah, said the group had received tens of millions of dollars from Iran to help boost its military capabilities. That is in addition to around $200 million that the terror group previously received from Tehran, which Reuters reported earlier this month.
The 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 familiar with the group’s operations.
In response to questions from Reuters, Hezbollah’s media office rejected the suggestion that its command-and-control systems had broken down.
A US State Department spokesman said Washington would keep strangling Hezbollah’s finances through sanctions and other measures. A US Treasury spokesperson said Iran was running out of money and ways to move money.
Trump pulling for Lebanese peace, Israeli withdrawal
US President Donald Trump pledged to secure a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon if Beirut agrees to join the Abraham Accords, a senior Gulf diplomatic source told the Lebanese newspaper Ad-Diyar.
The claim was published in an article by Lebanese journalist Nour Naameh amid ongoing diplomatic efforts and concerns in Lebanon over the potential consequences of another military confrontation between the US and Iran.
According to the report, the source described the American promises as official commitments. However, the newspaper provided no documents supporting the claims, did not identify the diplomat or the country he represents, and offered no confirmation from the White House.
The report also did not specify when the commitments were made, who they were communicated to, or whether a timetable had been set for their implementation.
Senior Israeli officials responded to the report by insisting that Israel would not withdraw its forces before Hezbollah was disarmed.
Anna Barsky and Reuters contributed to this report.
