A Pyrrhic Victory? Hezbollah's Complex Post-War Environment

Abstract

After emerging from the 2006 war with its reputation as the pre-eminent Arab military force enhanced, the complex nature of the Lebanese and regional political landscape has presented both opportunities and constraints to Hezbollah. Its unity of purpose, discipline, and organizational efficiency continue to benefit it enormously, but it faces challenges to its continued success. The structural inadequacies of the Lebanese political system and the widening political gap between the Shi'a and Lebanon's other communal groups are concerns, while its continued links with external sponsors Syria and Iran, and the performance of the Lebanese military are posing difficult questions for the party to answer.

Keywords:

• Hezbollah
• Nasrallah
• 2006 war
• Lebanon
• Amal
• Lebanese Army
• Hariri
• Syria
• lran
• zu'ama
• dahiyya