Hezbollah faces fire from its own supporters
The Christian Science Monitor by Scott Peterson 04 November 2024

Extracts:

• Years of Hezbollah promises

longtime supporter of Hezbollah, a businessman in Beirut who gives the name Hussein had his loyalty tested before in the last all-out Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006

Hussein explaining that Hezbollah’s standing nearly alone in solidarity with Hamas was an insufficient argument for war[
Hussein says, he is angry that Israel has managed to deliver multiple body blows to Hezbollah – including an exploding pager attack that wounded thousands of fighters and the assassination of Mr. Nasrallah – while Hezbollah so far has failed to deliver on years of promises that it would always inflict far greater pain on the Jewish state

• Hezbollah's most potent weapons

Indeed, Hezbollah has yet to use many of its most potent weapons – precision-guided missiles – against Israel

Hezbollah which is also a well-funded political party that provides services to the Shiite community, still has some popular support but patience is wearing thin because of intense civilian suffering

Hussein adds,

• Hezbollah’s Golani Brigade stike

That said, recent more effective Hezbollah strikes have won praise and include a mid-October drone strike on the dining hall of Israel’s Golani Brigade which killed 4 soldiers and wounded 67

Hussein says,

• Hezbollah’s “Axis” reputation

Indeed, Hezbollah’s carefully burnished reputation as the most powerful arm of Iran’s “Axis” has been damaged

For decades it has acted as a state with in a state, the self-declared defender of Lebanese territorial sovereignty – in place of Lebanese state forces too weak to do the job.