Media: Iran rebuilt Hezbollah's military command after its leader's assassination

In the wake of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination in September 2024, Iran’s Quds Force played a decisive role in reconstructing the group’s shattered command structure, an investigative report by French media stated.

Following Nasrallah’s death and the organization’s significant losses in its conflict with Israel, Hezbollah’s leadership was reportedly plunged into disarray. For nearly two weeks, the group’s military units operated without directives or coordination. “For ten days, no one answered the phone. We were like in a coma,” one Hezbollah member said.

Roughly two weeks after the assassination, elite operatives from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, under the command of General Esmail Qaani, were deployed to Lebanon. Within just ten days, they reestablished Hezbollah’s military hierarchy. However, the position of political leader within the organization remains unfilled.

Iran is now reportedly supervising the creation of a more clandestine Hezbollah infrastructure. The new model seeks to further divide the political and military wings of the group while relying increasingly on younger, lesser-known commanders. According to Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad, the restructured organization operates under a significantly reduced and compartmentalized chain of command: “No one knows who is responsible for what,” he said.

While Hezbollah has reportedly agreed to partial disarmament in southern Lebanon, it continues to stockpile weapons in the Bekaa Valley and north of the Litani River. A Western intelligence source cited by Le Figaro described the group as “a snake slithering in the dark — it has not disappeared, but is simply biding its time.”

By Vafa Guliyeva