(Al Arabiya) Makram Rabah - Hizbullah Secretary-General Naim Qassem's speech on the anniversary of the Sep. 2024 Israeli strike on Beirut, which killed dozens of Hizbullah commanders, betrayed that the movement is grappling with an internal crisis that is becoming harder to conceal. For over half an hour, Qassem recounted in detail the lives of fallen commanders and operatives. Behind this lurked the reality that Hizbullah has suffered sustained attrition at the leadership level. After two decades of intermittent conflict, a brutal Syrian war that drained men and resources, and the devastating Israeli war of September 2024, the Shia community of Lebanon is bearing an unsustainable burden. Economic collapse, social dislocation, and a steady stream of funerals have eroded the aura of invincibility. Hizbullah remains formidable. Its arsenal is intact, its networks entrenched, or so it claims, and its capacity to disrupt Lebanon and the region still unmatched. But the structural cracks are visible. When a leader spends more time reassuring his own base than threatening his enemies, it is a sign that the real battle is no longer only with Israel, but within.
2025-09-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive