Hezbollah’s Use of Force During the Current Fighting Against Israel
During the night of March 1-2, 2026, Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel for the first time since the ceasefire which went into effect on November 27, 2024. A day later, after a series of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Hezbollah announced it would resume the war on Israel and began attacking military and civilian targets inside Israel and IDF forces in south Lebanon. Since March 3, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for more than 280 rocket, missile, UAV, and other attacks; Hezbollah represented the attacks as "defensive" and in response to the Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, claiming they had no choice because the efforts of the Lebanese government to stop the "aggression" had failed. Hezbollah secretary general Na'im Qassem confirmed that the Israeli-American campaign against Iran and the elimination of Iran's leader Khamenei had provided "the appropriate timing" to resume fighting; Hezbollah's conditions for stopping the attacks are an end to the Israeli attacks and the withdrawal of IDF forces from Lebanese territory, the release of the Lebanese held by Israel and the return of the displaced to their homes in south Lebanon. The organization also wants to return to its self-declared "deterrent equation" with Israel, in effect until Hezbollah attacked Israel to "support the Gaza Strip" on October 8, 2023; Hezbollah's secretary general said they had learned the lessons of the previous war with Israel and had shifted to decentralized fighting; Hezbollah also exploited the renewed hostilities to entrench its positions regarding the Lebanese government's plan to disarm the organization; Iran and Hezbollah admitted that they were carrying out combined and coordinated missile and UAV attacks against Israel; In ITIC assessment, Hezbollah's activity since the beginning of the current attacks indicates command and control capabilities which enable it to carry out combined attacks, both by units deployed in different areas of Lebanon and in coordination with Iran, as well as the ability to control and gradually escalate the fighting. In addition, decentralization and the combination of ground encounters and long-range fire enable Hezbollah to preserve operational continuity even under continued Israeli attacks and to disperse the centers of activity along the border. The friction with IDF forces in south Lebanon indicates the limitations of the Lebanese government after its army claimed it had achieved operational control south of the Litani River as part of implementing the state's monopoly on weapons. Hezbollah will apparently continue attacking in coordination with Iran and try to end the current round of fighting with a temporary arrangement which will allow it to rebuild its military capabilities and continue its opposition to disarmament.
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