The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah spent months restocking its arsenal of rockets and drones, using support from Iran and its own weapons factories to prepare for a new war with Israel, six sources familiar with the group’s preparations said.
Battered but not defeated after its devastating 2024 conflict with Israel, Hezbollah had concluded that another round of fighting was inevitable — and that this time it could face an existential threat, according to the sources.
IDF strikes in Beirut
(Video: IDF)
Reuters spoke to three Lebanese sources briefed on Hezbollah’s activities, two foreign officials in Lebanon and an Israeli military official. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The details of Hezbollah’s recent efforts to rearm have not previously been reported.
The head of Hezbollah’s media office, Youssef al-Zein, told Reuters the group would not comment on its military operations, though he said Hezbollah had decided to “fight to the last breath.”
Paying salaries, replenishing stockpiles
Founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel on Monday to avenge the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, pulling Lebanon into the war spreading across the Middle East.
Although the decision caught some of its own officials off guard, the terror group had been preparing its military stockpiles and command-and-control structure for an eventual confrontation with Israel, the six sources said.
To do so, Hezbollah relied on a monthly budget of about $50 million, most of it from Iran and earmarked for fighters’ salaries, according to one Lebanese source briefed on the group’s finances and military activities. One of the foreign officials confirmed the figure.
It was not immediately clear how long the group had relied on that monthly budget or how it compared with its previous financial resources.
IDF strikes in Dahieh
Hezbollah has said Iranian funds also helped finance rent for people displaced by the 2024 war. Around 60,000 Lebanese, most from the Shiite Muslim community that forms Hezbollah’s support base, remained displaced over the past year with their homes still in ruins.
The terror group also worked to replenish its drone and rocket stockpiles through local manufacturing, according to the Lebanese source, the foreign officials and the Israeli military official.
The Israeli official said Hezbollah used Iranian funding both to smuggle weapons and produce its own, though its manufacturing capabilities had been weakened.
Another foreign official said the group had stationed new rockets and Iranian-made logistical equipment in southern Lebanon before the latest war began.
Hezbollah’s media office did not immediately respond to questions about its rearmament and Iranian support.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told Reuters that Hezbollah “had a lot of arms left” and was also attempting to rearm.
“They were trying to smuggle and we were preventing that,” Shoshani said.
Pace of fire builds up
In 2024, a two-month war with Israel ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Hezbollah halted its attacks on Israel, while Israel continued strikes targeting what it said were efforts by the terror group to rebuild its military capabilities.
Israel also maintained troops at five hilltop positions in southern Lebanon.
Last year, Lebanon’s authorities also began confiscating Hezbollah weapons in the south, though Israel said the terror group was rearming faster than it was being disarmed.
Weeks before Hezbollah entered the current regional war, the Lebanese source confirmed that the group had been rebuilding its capabilities “in parallel” with Israel’s campaign to destroy them.
The pace of Hezbollah’s attacks this week also offers clues about its remaining weapons stockpiles.
IDF strikes in Dahieh
The terror group launched about 60 drones and rockets on March 2, the first day it attacked Israel, and a similar number the following day, according to the foreign official tracking its activities.
But on March 4, Hezbollah launched more than double that number, suggesting it could draw from larger stockpiles.
The Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli think tank monitoring the northern border, estimated that on the eve of the attack Hezbollah possessed about 25,000 rockets and missiles, most of them short- and medium-range.
A video released by Hezbollah on March 4 showed a fighter preparing a drone in a wooded area. Defense analyst Riad Kahwaji identified it as a Shahed-101 drone, which he said could be produced locally.
Preparing for a fight for survival
Hezbollah has also redeployed fighters from its elite Radwan force to southern Lebanon, after they had been withdrawn following the 2024 conflict.
Israeli strikes after the ceasefire targeted what Israel said were Radwan training facilities. In late February, the Israeli military said it struck eight military compounds used by the unit to store weapons and prepare for future fighting.
The Israeli official and a foreign official said Hezbollah had struggled to recruit new operatives after losing about 5,000 fighters in the 2024 war.
Despite those losses, the second Lebanese source said the terror group still had around 95,000 fighters.
Ahead of entering the current regional war, Hezbollah leaders believed Israel would eventually launch a major strike aimed at crippling the group’s ability to retaliate, the Lebanese source said.
A third foreign official familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said that assessment helped drive the decision to launch its first attacks, fearing Israel would eventually shift its focus from Iran to Hezbollah.
“They knew they were next on the list,” the official said.