Intelligence: Hezbollah is seeking to rebuild its capabilities

A senior U.S. official, an Israeli official and two U.S. officials briefed on the intelligence, after asking not to be named in the report, said U.S. intelligence agencies had estimated over the past few weeks that Hezbollah had begun, even as the when Israel’s military campaign resumed, to recruit new fighters, trying to find ways to rearm through local production and smuggling materials across the country Syria.

Two sources said it was unclear to what extent those efforts had slowed since he arrived last week Hezbollah And Israel On the fragile truce, especially the ban on purchasing Hezbollah for weapons Or weapon parts.

In the past few days, Israel has sought to weaken Hezbollah’s ability to rebuild its military strength, bombing several of the group’s rocket launchers in Lebanon, bombing border crossings with Syria and intercepting an Iranian plane suspected of carrying weapons to the group.

US intelligence agencies estimate that Hezbollah is operating with limited firepower, having lost more than half of its weapons stockpile and thousands of fighters during the conflict with Israel, reducing the group’s military capacity to its lowest level in decades.

But Hezbollah has not been completely destroyed, as sources say it still keeps thousands of short-range missiles in Lebanon and will try to replenish its stockpile using weapons factories in neighboring countries from which transport routes are available.

One representative noted that Hezbollah has been “stymied” in the short term and its ability to command and control has been reduced, but “this organization is designed to recover from confusion.”

Reuters quoted Hezbollah officials as saying that Hezbollah would continue to act as a “resistance” against Israel, but Naim Kassem, the party’s secretary general, did not mention the group’s weapons in recent speeches, including his statements after the ceasefire was reached.

Sources say Lebanon Hezbollah’s priority is to rebuild the homes of its supporters after Israeli strikes destroyed vast areas of southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Challenges related to training

According to a statement by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi last week, Hezbollah has not been weakened by Israel’s killing of many of its leaders since January and its ground attack against it since early October.

Arakchi stated that Hezbollah was able to reorganize its ranks and fight effectively.

However, the sources told Reuters that there was US intelligence indicating that Israel had eliminated thousands of missiles owned by Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting its fighters to withdraw from the border with Israel.

Sources explained that information Intelligence This indicates that Hezbollah is likely to face major training challenges in the coming years, although the exact number of its fighters remains difficult to determine.

According to US officials, Hezbollah’s collapse points to a growing gap in Iran’s military capabilities and raises doubts about its ability to use its allies to attack Israel and other adversaries in the short term.

Another US official said that in the past Israel faced the possibility of Hezbollah responding from Lebanon if it considered attacking Iran, but by weakening the Lebanese group, Israel could attack it. Iran Directly without exposing its northern regions to the same threat.