Lebanese Armed Forces

Hezbollah at War: What Comes Next for Lebanon and the Region

Hezbollah Emerged from Iran’s Revolution, Not “Resistance” to Israel

A false claim, now common in Western media and academia, portrays Hezbollah as having emerged in response to Israel’s 1982 invasion and subsequent occupation of Lebanon. In reality, Hezbollah arose in...

Israeli goals in Lebanon war shift from imminently disarming Hezbollah to reestablishing South Lebanon Security Zone

The renewed Lebanon war between Israel and Hezbollah that began on March 2 is now over a month old, with little change in the overall picture or disposition of the main actors. However, Israeli officials...

Trump Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: April

Welcome back to the Trump Administration Foreign Policy Tracker. Once a month, we ask FDD’s experts and scholars to assess the administration’s foreign policy. They provide trendlines of very positive, positive, neutral, negative, or very negative for the areas they watch. ...

Lebanon declares Iranian ambassador-designate ‘persona non grata’ before Iranian missile explodes over Lebanese airspace

On March 24, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi announced that he had instructed his ministry’s secretary-general “to summon the Iranian Charge d’Affaires in Lebanon,”...

Lebanon Will Keep Hezbollah’s Arms, Lose its South

Lebanon has made its choice. Instead of enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and its own cabinet’s decision to disarm Hezbollah, Beirut will allow the pro-Iran militia to keep its weapons but...

Syria Can Squeeze Hezbollah, But Caution Is Necessary

Syrian forces may be returning to Lebanon more than twenty years after Damascus withdrew its military from its smaller neighbor’s territory. Reuters reported on March 17 that the...

Lebanons’ second chance

This conflict could finally free Beirut from Hezbollah

Lebanon’s failure to disarm Hezbollah keeps doing greater damage

Excerpt To end its devastating war with Israel, Lebanon pledged to disarm Hezbollah under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. After signing the Cessation of Hostilities in November 2024, Beirut...

Lebanon war intensifies as IDF strikes harder and Hezbollah escalates attacks

The renewed Lebanon war, now just over a week old, has witnessed a gradual intensification of attacks by Israel and Hezbollah between March 8 and 11, with both sides making clear their current disinterest...

Israel’s Goals and Challenges in the New Hezbollah War

Hezbollah’s opening of a front from Lebanon in support of Iran was not a surprise for Israel, which is again discussing the forcible dismantling of the organization. It remains unclear whether...

The Lebanese Army Goes Rogue

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), under its commander Rodolphe Haykal, has defied the state it is sworn to serve, effectively siding with Hezbollah at a moment when Lebanon teeters on the edge of the abyss. After...

Israel strikes over 500 targets in Lebanon, issues evac orders in renewed war with Hezbollah (March 2–6)

The November 27, 2024, ceasefire agreement signed by Israel and Lebanon, negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah, finally broke down completely. In the early morning hours of March 2, 2026, Hezbollah’s forces...

Lebanon’s Narrow Window To Disarm Hezbollah

Once again, Hezbollah has dragged Lebanon into a war with Israel. Despite promising signals, Beirut remains unserious about reasserting the state’s authority. On March 2, the Lebanese Cabinet proscribed...

Hezbollah leader vows to fight until the end in renewed war with Israel

On March 2 at approximately 1:30 am, Hezbollah attacked Israel with several rockets and drones for the first time since the November 27, 2024, ceasefire went into effect. The group officially claimed the...

Washington Must Ensure Beirut Acts on Its Promise To Disarm Hezbollah

Hezbollah, despite its assurances to Lebanese officials, launched a barrage of rockets and drones at Israel on the morning of March 2, making Lebanon an unwilling party to the war with Iran. In response,...

‘Too Late’: Trump Rebuffs Tehran Regime’s Request for Talks

Trump Rejects Islamic Republic Request for Talks: President Donald Trump said of Iran on March 3, “Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said, ‘Too Late!’” In a separate interview with Politico the same day, Trump asserted that Iran is “running out of launchers” for its ballistic missiles. “They’re running out and they’re running out of areas to shoot them,” he stated. “Because they’re being decimated.” IDF Strikes Targets Across Iran: The Israeli military said on March 3 that it had attacked “sites used by the regime to produce weapons, with an emphasis on ballistic missile production sites” in Tehran. The IDF also reportedly struck “the building that hosts the body of religious experts whose primary role is to select Iran’s new supreme leader.” Clashes With Hezbollah Intensify: The IDF also announced “extensive strikes on infrastructures of the Hezbollah terrorist organization” in Lebanon since Hezbollah “chose to join the campaign [against Israel] and act on behalf of Iran.” The IDF said one of its strikes eliminated Daoud Ali Zada, deputy commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), “the highest-ranking Iranian commander responsible for Iranian operations in Lebanon.”

Time for Lebanon’s De-Hezbollahfication

Lebanon has tasted the nightmare Israel faced on October 7, 2023. Iran’s Islamist regime and its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, are irrational actors who cannot be trusted with a single bullet, let alone...

Israeli operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah: February 23–March 1, 2026

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted numerous operations against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon between February 23 and March 1, 2026. Israeli activities last week were less intense than in preceding...

Hezbollah Deliberates Over Attack on Israel as Further Strikes Hit Iranian Regime Targets

Operation “Epic Fury” opened with a well-placed strike against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s compound in Tehran, eliminating him and several other senior officials. Yet save for sharply worded,...