From: The Guardian November 29, 2024
1. It also shattered Hezbollah’s air of invincibility.
2. If Hezbollah could not claim that it would protect Lebanon from Israel, why did it exist?

Its domestic opponents called for the militia,
1. to disarm
2. and to allow the state to reassert itself in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah has warned its rivals not to overestimate its losses.
In his latest speech the secretary general of the party, Naim Qassem, invoked the 1989 Taif agreement, which ended Lebanon’s 15-year long sectarian civil war, which all parties are keen to avoid.

Karim el-Mufti, a senior lecturer in global affairs at Sciences Po in Paris, said, Hezbollah needs to frame this as a victory:
"just by surviving and not openly surrendering, it considers it has somewhat overcome the invincible Israeli military,”
“It’s also looking after its political future inside Lebanon as difficult and burdening questions will be sure to be raised as to its role.”

In Bint Jbeil, Hezbollah was keen to reassert its presence,
1. Members of its relief wings were clearing rubble-strewn roads
2. and handed out flags to returning residents -- can't eat the flags!
3. The group’s anthems boomed over cars’ speaker systems.

Mohammed, a resident of Bint Jbeil, said,
“It might be hard for Europeans and westerners to understand, but this is victory,”
“As long as the resistance is here – the Israelis will not be able to enter, then we have won.”