Hezbollah Losing Its Political Clout in Lebanon

The IDF has been battering Hezbollah in Lebanon from pillar to post. There were the “exploding pagers” that resulted in dozens of Hezbollah deaths, and at least 3,000 operatives who were so badly injured that they are no longer fit to fight. In addition, the IDF managed to destroy between 80-90% of Hezbollah’s storehouse of 150,000 missiles and rockets. This military defeat has emboldened Hezbollah’s political enemies, including President Joseph Aoun. They are trying to force Hezbollah to remove all of its forces between the Litani River and the border with Israel, and the Lebanese National Army, with hundreds of millions of dollars in new weapons supplied by the Americans, has at last been attacking Hezbollah outposts south of the Litani.

Politically, Hezbollah is on its back foot. The Christians, Sunnis, and even some Lebanese Shi’a now recognize that Hezbollah’s use of Lebanon to launch missiles at Israel has only led to the IDF’s retaliation that leaves large parts of Lebanon, especially in the Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley, in ruins. Hezbollah is now being publicly recognized as a threat to Lebanon’s wellbeing because its attacks invite ferocious retaliation.

And now the political echelon in Beirut, including those who were once allies of Hezbollah, have been abandoning the terrorist group. “Hezbollah becoming politically isolated within and outside Lebanon,” Elder of Ziyon, August 11, 2025:

L’Orient Today notes that Hezbollah has been criticizing Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, even though the Saudis are the ones who are most likely to spend the billions needed to rebuild Lebanon. The reason?

But according to political scientist Karim Bitar, what particularly troubles Hezbollah is “the pressure the kingdom is putting on the last remaining allies of the party,” namely Faisal Karameh and the Frangieh family. Both had aligned with the “Resistance” for years but have now begun to distance themselves — a real blow to Hezbollah after the gradual withdrawal of support from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).

Hezbollah is being abandoned by its former allies who have recognized that Hezbollah is now “the weak horse,” having been battered by the IDF, which has managed to destroy between 80% and 90% of the terror group’s arsenal of missiles and rockets.

A year ago, the Hezbollah bloc controlled 53 seats in Lebanon’s 120 seat parliament. Today, it appears to be down to about 29, with some reported frictions with its main secular ally Amal that would cut that number in half if they split.

This is a dramatic decrease in Hezbollah’s political power, cutting its seats in Parliament almost in half within just a year.

Hezbollah has not only been largely stripped of almost all of its main weaponry by the IDF, but can no longer count on weapons being resupplied to it from Iran via Syria. Syria is now run by Sunnis who detest Hezbollah, as they do Shia Iran, and will prevent Iranian weapons from being resupplied to the Lebanese terror group.

And now it is not just the Christians and the Sunnis, but a great many Lebanese Shi’a, who are determined to end Hezbollah’s former reign of terror, that has only lead to ruined infrastructure. An important influence in the political maneuvering in Beirut is Saudi Arabia, which is expected to bankroll the reconstruction of Lebanon. The Saudis have made clear that their future aid to Lebanon will depend on whether Hezbollah has been removed from all positions of power. How many Lebanese Shi’a, faced with a choice between sticking with Hezbollah or abandoning it in order to receive tens of billions of dollars in reconstruction aid from Saudi Arabia, will be foolish enough to choose the former?