Hezbollah Close To Full Takeover In Beirut Which Places Iran On Israel's Doorstep

A Hezbollah Takeover in Beirut Would Put Iran on Israel’s Doorstep

by Shimon Shapira / JNS.org

In the background, the Lebanese economy is collapsing. The Lebanese lira has lost 90 percent of its value since October 2019. The decline in living conditions in Lebanon has already led to angry demonstrations in Beirut that threaten the stability of the state.

At the same time, Hezbollah operates an alternative governmental system, separate from the central government in Beirut. It includes an independent economic system, including Hezbollah banks with ATMs, as well as a health system that provides a partial solution to the state’s inability to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. There is an independent education system, which includes kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools; a scouts framework; and a system of 32 hawzat (religious-studies seminaries) and welfare institutions throughout Lebanon.

Funding for this all-encompassing system is estimated at $1 billion a year, and funds continue to come from Iran despite the economic sanctions imposed on it. In the words of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah: “As long as Iran has money, we have money … Just as we receive the rockets that we use to threaten Israel, we are receiving our money.”

Iran’s maintenance of Hezbollah in Lebanon does not stem from any altruistic motive. Large parts of the Shi’ite community are faithful to the theological principle of Velâyat-e Faqih, which views Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as the political and religious guardian and Nasrallah as his representative in Lebanon.

Since the outbreak of the uprising in Syria a decade ago, Iran has increased its involvement in Hezbollah’s affairs. Nasrallah was forced to comply with then-Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s orders and send more than 8,000 fighters to Syria. More than 2,000 returned in coffins, and twice as many were wounded in the fighting.

When the commander of Hezbollah forces in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, expressed reservations about Hezbollah’s continued participation in the war in Syria, he was eliminated by Soleimani, with Nasrallah’s consent. There is no portrait of Badreddine, one of Hezbollah’s most important commanders, among the pictures on display during the “Day of The Martyred Commanders,” alongside Ragheb Harb, Abbas al-Musawi and Imad Mughniyeh.

Nasrallah is aware of the weight of responsibility Iran places on his shoulders. The collapse of the central government in Beirut, together with the dysfunction of the government and economic systems, transformed Lebanon from a failed state to a Hezbollah state, where Hezbollah’s alternative system is fully backed by Iran.

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