Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said the terror group “will not surrender,” adding that “the Lebanese army is not capable of fighting its own citizens.” He warned that “if the aggression continues, we will confront it and will not surrender. We will never surrender and will fight until our last breath.”
Amid renewed fighting with Hezbollah following Operation Roaring Lion in Iran, and against the backdrop of historic negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, a field commander in the Shiite terrorist group gave a rare interview to NPR, offering an unusual glimpse into its command structure and how it has rebuilt since the blow it suffered in 2024, after the pager attacks and the killing of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
The commander spoke by phone for 40 minutes with the U.S. outlet, describing how he had been wounded a day earlier in a large-scale Israeli strike on Beirut, part of the opening phase of Operation Eternal Darkness, in which 350 people were killed, according to Lebanese authorities. An Israeli missile exploded in a street near a building in Beirut’s Dahieh district, he said, sending glass and shrapnel into his arms and legs and killing two people beside him. He added that with what he described as an enemy occupying his land, he felt he had no choice but to be there.
The commander, 62, who identified himself by his nom de guerre “Jihad” for fear Israel would locate and kill him, said he has been a member of Hezbollah’s military wing since 2001 and that his current rank is equivalent to a brigadier general in the Israeli military. He declined to specify his exact role, which could reveal his identity, and said he moves between Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah maintains offices, and southern Lebanon, where he commands forces fighting Israel.
He said, with a laugh, that his specialty was in “things that fly,” referring to the rockets Hezbollah fires toward northern Israel, adding that while they are fighting an enemy with advanced weapons and technology, they are managing to hold their ground.
Former Mossad agents discuss the pager operation on '60 Minutes,' December 2024
(Video: CBS News)
Jihad acknowledged “mistakes” Hezbollah made in 2024 that led to Nasrallah’s killing, and described how the group has rearmed since. He did not speak to NPR on a personal mobile phone, reflecting Hezbollah’s current avoidance of cellphones and other technologies after the September 2024 pager attacks, in which thousands of pagers and communication devices used by the group exploded almost simultaneously, killing dozens. Mossad agents later said the operation had been years in the making, involving explosives embedded in device batteries sold to Hezbollah through a front company in Europe allegedly set up by Israeli intelligence.
Since then, Jihad said, the group has stopped importing electronics altogether, citing a complete lack of trust in such equipment. He added that he now relies on an old radio device, and that most of Hezbollah’s equipment consists of outdated Motorola devices and radio transmitters. Some battlefield orders, he noted, are even passed through handwritten notes delivered by motorcycle couriers.
He added that Hezbollah has returned to its roots following the pager attacks and Nasrallah’s killing later that month. According to him, Nasrallah’s successor, Naim Qassem, has overhauled the group’s approach, adopting a decentralized command structure first developed by Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s military chief who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008.
He said the fighters were divided into semi-independent units that do not communicate with each other for security reasons, with each assigned a specific role — such as firing, monitoring roads or even handling logistics like preparing food. Each member, he explained, carries out a defined task without knowing the broader operational picture, following training and certifications tied to their role. He added that under Qassem, Hezbollah has moved closer to Iran while operating in a more compartmentalized manner.
Although Hezbollah has largely remained quiet since the ceasefire with Israel at the end of 2024, despite occasional Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, Jihad said the group never disarmed. According to him, its members pointed Lebanese soldiers to old, inactive or damaged weapons caches that were no longer needed and allowed them to be confiscated. But Hezbollah’s real arsenal, he said, was barely affected.
He said Lebanese forces had not actually seized any meaningful weapons, claiming Hezbollah had handed over empty boxes or a small number of outdated items for disposal. He added that the group’s firepower had not been significantly degraded in the 2024 war, contrary to Israeli assessments, and that it has since rearmed through a mix of imports and local production, noting that today it is possible to learn how to manufacture almost anything online.
He declined to say where weapons are assembled, though Hezbollah is known to operate a network of underground tunnels and caves. Some entrances were destroyed by Israel in 2024, but experts say many of the structures remain intact and in use.
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon
(Video: IDF Spokesperson)
Over the years, Hezbollah has received most of its weapons from Iran via Syria. But after the fall of its ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, in December 2024, the group’s supply route was disrupted. Still, Jihad suggested this was not entirely the case.
“There is nothing that cannot be smuggled through Syria — Kornet, Konkurs,” he said, referring to Russian-made anti-tank weapons.
The interview ended after 40 minutes when Jihad said he had to go. “We need to change location,” he said before abruptly hanging up. The journalist noted that drones buzzing and low-flying fighter jets could be heard on the other end of the line before the call ended.