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Hezbollah Controls Lebanon – Not the Elected Government
Hezbollah does not answer to the country it fires from – it pledges loyalty to Iran. It is “the crown jewel of Iran’s proxy network” – and has attacked Israel relentlessly since Oct. 8, 2023.
The Lebanese and Israeli governments have held several rounds of direct talks – for the first time since 1983 – and agreed to a U.S.-brokered truce in April. Hezbollah never signed it and resumed its barrages of rockets and drones against northern Israeli communities. The Israeli military responded by recently issuing evacuation orders for seven southern Lebanese villages to protect civilians from the targeting of Hezbollah sites.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam recently condemned Hezbollah for dragging his country back into war, explaining we “did not choose this war” and called negotiations the least costly path. Last September, the Lebanese Army presented the government with its Homeland Shield Plan to disarm militias – primarily Hezbollah. The terror group responded by branding President Joseph Aoun and PM Salam “traitors” for negotiating with Israel and issuing threats against the government if it moved to disarm it.
The terrorist group has effectively ruled Lebanon and attacked Israel for decades – receiving billions of dollars from Iran – overruling and assassinating the country’s political leaders. Hezbollah assassinated former PM Rafik Hariri in a massive 2005 truck bombing that used 2,200 pounds of explosives.
Hezbollah Keeps Northern Israel Under Fire
The strain on the north is heavy. Kiryat Shmona – Israel’s largest border city – was recently described by one resident as “dead,” a barber recalling how before the war “this area was full of people” and now no one goes out at night. About 60,000 residents of northern border communities were evacuated beginning in Oct. 2023, and most returned only after the 2024 ceasefire.
Residents who returned are staying in their homes while under a barrage of rockets. The IDF operates inside Lebanon for one reason: to stop the attacks so Israelis can live peacefully in their homes. This is self-defense, not a fight for land.
Many Israelis in the north are resilient. Along the border, farmers return each morning to fields scorched by Hezbollah rockets, replanting orchards within sight of enemy positions. Volunteer paramedics – Druze, Christian and Jewish – race toward the impact sites the moment a barrage ends.
Ofer Moskovitz, 60, farms an avocado grove 100 yards from the Lebanese border: “It’s dangerous and it’s stressful, but most of the residents are here, they came back. There’s an amazing community and we go through everything together.”
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