Defeating Hezbollah: Military, but Also Politics

Killing a general doesn’t kill a political party. Israel has decimated Hezbollah’s military leadership, destroyed its arsenal, and left the group at its weakest point in decades. Yet walk in the Lebanese parliament today and Hezbollah and its ally Amal still hold 24 seats, cabinet seats, and veto power over government decisions.With parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2026, Washington has a narrow window to achieve what bullets cannot — dismantling Hezbollah’s finances, winning the reconstruction race, empowering independent Shia voices, and holding obstructionists accountable.Two Lebanese-American members of Congress, Representatives Darrell Issa and Darin LaHood,introduced the Lebanon Election Integrity and Diaspora Voting Protection Act of 2026. It authorizes sanctions against anyone who obstructs diaspora voting ahead of May 2026. The Lebanese diaspora is largely composed of Christian Lebanese Americans who fled Hezbollah’s dominance and now represent a critical electoral counterweight.Hezbollah is not just a militia. It is a political entity operating on orders from Tehran, and that machine is still running even after its military defeatFor decades, France argued that the military and political wings of Hezbollah were separate entities, and that sanctioning them would destabilize Lebanon. That logic was flawed and Lebanon has paid the price.The United States, in contrast, rightly designates Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization : The military wing fires the rockets and the political wing blocks the ceasefire. Together, they are one instrument of the Islamic Republic.The 88-year-old Amal leader, Nabih Berri, has served as Speaker of parliament for over 30 years, ensuring the Amal-Hezbollah duopoly remained untouchable. When the government voted on disarmament in August 2025, Hezbollah and Amal ministers walked out. When the Lebanese president signaled openness to ceasefire talks, Hezbollah condemned the decision as a “blunder”. Military disarmament without political removal leaves that veto power fully intact.Cracks among Lebanon’s Shiites are forming, though. “As long as there are weapons outside the state’s control, there will always be unrest,” A senior Shia cleric, Ali al-Amin, has warned. A 2025 Gallup poll found that 27 percent of Lebanon’s Shiites support limiting weapons to the army while 98 percent express confidence in their own military. The building blocks of an alternative exist. What is missing is the political architecture to make it real.Tehran has transferred more than $1 billion to Hezbollah since 2025 through unregulated money exchange companies. Under American pressure, the Lebanese Central Bank banned licensed financial institutions last July from conducting business with the financial arm of Hezbollah, Al-Qard Al-Hassan. Yet banking prohibitions are not enough. Washington should push Beirut to shut the institution down entirely, expand sanctions against funding networks of Iran, and condition reconstruction aid on real financial transparency.The reconstruction race, which for now Washington is losing, can be won. Hezbollah has spent over$1 billion and announced a reconstruction planworth $3 billion to rebuild southern Lebanon. The World Bank, in contrast,pledged $250 million. The terror group is buying loyalty one rebuilt home at a time.. America, then, must accelerate funds, channeled exclusively through the Lebanese government, not organizations that use rubble to recruit.Hezbollah and Amal won 27 Shia parliamentary seats in 2022. Breaking their hold would require encouraging the president and prime minister to appoint independent Shia cabinet ministers, expand diaspora voting rights, and back independent Shia candidates willing to challenge Hezbollah. Far from a fringe, the 27% of Shia who support disarmament are a serious constituency waiting to be organized.An off-ramp for Hezbollah fighters is also needed. As U.S. Envoy Tom Barrack said, you cannot take guns away and tell fighters to go plant olive trees. Washington could work with Arab partners on job training and reconstruction employment in the south.When Hezbollah ministers walked out of the August 2025 cabinet meeting there were no consequences. The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act requires Pentagon reporting on disarmament efforts. The same conditionality could apply to political obstruction. Military victory is within reach. Political victory requires a different strategy and the clock is ticking.

Defeating Hezbollah: Military, but Also Politics

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