The killing of Hezbollah’s powerful leader Hassan Nasrallah a month ago has marked a fundamental shift for the Iran-backed Lebanese movement and revived calls for it to surrender its vast weapons arsenal.
“Nasrallah’s death marks the end of an era,” said Sam Heller, an analyst at the Century Foundation, a US-based think tank.
After decades at the top, Nasrallah’s death “will necessarily mark a transition for the organization,” Heller said.
Nasrallah’s influence extended far beyond his loyal Shia Muslim support base in Lebanon.
He was a key pillar in Iran’s “axis of resistance” against the United States and Israel, which includes other armed groups in the Middle East as well as Syria.
Israel dealt a seismic blow to Hezbollah when it killed Nasrallah in a massive airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, pushing the movement into a new era.
Hezbollah was already locked in a year of cross-border firing with Israel, which it launched in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attack.
Last month, Israel stepped up attacks on Hezbollah strongholds and dispatched ground forces, while one by one killed a member of the group’s top leadership.
Nasrallah, who has led the group since 1992, has led campaigns against Israel for decades and gained cult status among his supporters during the 2006 war.
According to Heller, “He was the foremost decision-maker in the organization as the organization rose to prominence in Lebanon and regionally.”
The group’s governing Shura Council has not yet appointed a successor.
Hashem Saffieddin, the cleric proposed for the post, was killed by Israel just days after Nasrallah.
home ground
According to its deputy chief Naim Qassim, Hezbollah is now run by a group of leaders.
Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Najib Mikati, have said they have been cut off from contact with the group for weeks.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement, has been tasked with speaking on behalf of the group, Qassem said in a recent speech.
According to local media reports, Berri is believed to be pushing for a ceasefire.
Hezbollah has long linked the ceasefire in Lebanon to an end to the fighting in Gaza, a position it has yet to formally reverse.
Even as the group appears to be on the backfoot, its fighters continue to fire dozens of rockets into Israel every day, some of which reach major cities such as Haifa and Tel Aviv.
This week, Hezbollah claimed a drone strike on the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coastal city of Caesarea.
The group says that even after several weeks of ground attacks, Israeli forces have not been able to take full control of any village in Lebanon.
Israeli forces operating in Lebanon are “facing very fierce resistance and are being forced to retreat under heavy blows”, a source close to Hezbollah said.
“The Israelis have reached a maximum depth of about two kilometers (1.2 miles),” said the source, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Hezbollah has the advantage because it is fighting on its own territory, he said, knowing which “trees and rocks” to hide behind.
‘disarmed’
Hezbollah is widely believed to be better armed than the Lebanese National Army, and is the only group that did not surrender its weapons after the 1975–1990 civil war.
After dominating political life in Lebanon for years, Hezbollah is facing new calls for change from its critics within the country.
Lebanese computer engineer Elie Jabour told AFP that he believed the only way forward for Hezbollah was to give up its weapons.
“The war cannot end before Hezbollah is disarmed,” he said.
“When that happens, it can only be incorporated into state institutions as a political party,” the 27-year-old said.
The ceasefire in Lebanon is linked to the implementation of a UN resolution that ended the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese Army and UN peacekeepers should be deployed to areas south of the Litani River – an area where Hezbollah has long been active.
But Lebanon is grappling with a protracted crisis that has left the country directionless until a president is elected after a two-year void.
Many in Lebanon blame Hezbollah for disrupting the vote.
Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party and a longtime rival of Hezbollah, said any new president should “not leave any group or weapon outside the framework of the state”.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday that only the state should possess weapons.
But in a country long wracked by division, attempts to politically marginalize Hezbollah … would invite a violent response from the group, Heller said.
“It will end in inter-Lebanese conflict,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
