Hezbollah has lost control of Beirut’s airport, “once vital for moving people, weapons and money between Lebanon and Iran.”
We quote from a neat summary in the Economist of the drastic defeats that have all but eviscerated what was once Iran’s most powerful foreign proxy and Israel’s most direct military threat.
Hezbollah’s fall was fast, basically in a mere two months in late 2024 when Israel ignored President Biden’s pleas not to attack Hezbollah. As a result of Israel’s swift and decisive action:
• Because Israel killed Hezbollah’s terrorist leaders, one after the other, the remaining leaders avoid meetings, fearing they’re next.
• Because the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in November, 2024 called for Hezbollah’s disarmament — once unmentionable inside Lebanon —the idea is now debated on Lebanese television.
• Because President Trump captured Venezuela’s Maduro, Hezbollah lost a steady stream of funding from illicit Iranian oil exports and Colombian cocaine.
• Because Hezbollah is cash-poor, its welfare checks bounce.
• Because Hezbollah is hollowed out, the ultimate authority over it now resides outside Lebanon — in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has its hands full with the radical dissatisfaction inside Iran.
One thing hasn’t changed. Whatever funds Hezbollah still has, it allots for fighters’ salaries, not for rebuilding southern Lebanon, whose Hezbollah bases Israel destroyed in fall, 2024.
It is the forever war against Israel — not the welfare of the common people — that Hezbollah prioritizes. Hamas doesn’t care about Gazans; Hezbollah doesn’t care about Lebanese.
The more things change . . .
© IJN 2026
