BEIRUT: Hezbollah suffered heavy losses in a war with Israel more than a year ago, but the Shia movement has now regrouped only to end up fighting what it has called an “existential battle” and which some warn could be its last.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when the militant group, funded and armed by Iran, attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel, which had continued to strike targets in Lebanon even before the war, despite a 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, has launched deadly air attacks, sent ground troops into border areas and issued evacuation warnings that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the movement was ready for a long confrontation.
“This is an existential battle … we will not allow the enemy to achieve its goal of eliminating our existence,” he said.
