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Hizballah - Organization

Hezbollah is not a “top-heavy” institution, allowing it to typically recover from losing senior officers. These resistance organisations don’t die when their leaders go away. Hezbollah's military wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Several countries and transnational bodies distinguish between the so-called military and political wings of Hezbollah – proscribing only the former. Yet the distinction between these two branches of the same organization is entirely artificial, and is rejected even by Hezbollah’s own leadership. Secretary General Nasrallah, for example, referred to the military vs. political wing distinction as an “innovation [bid’a]” and said sanctioning the military wing alone would have no “effects beyond the symbolic and psychological,” because Hezbollah had no such internal divisions.

Hezbollah has not yet appointed a new secretary-general, amid Israeli assurances that his potential successor will be assassinated. Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem on 08 October 2024 said the Lebanese armed group’s military capabilities remained “fine” despite Israel’s heavy air strikes. “You see that our daily accomplishments are great. Hundreds of rockets and dozens of aircraft (drones), a great number of (Israeli) settlements and cities have come under rocket fire ... I would like to reassure you that our capabilities are fine.” He pointed out that some of the alternatives and deputies for the martyred leaders are from the first generation that founded Hezbollah in 1982, and some of them are close to them. He confirmed that everything that the martyred leader had is with his deputy and assistant. The party reorganized its ranks and regained control, reflecting its determination to continue fighting until the last moment.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on 08 October 2024 that Hezbollah "is a battered and broken organisation, without significant command and fire capabilities, with a disintegrated leadership following the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah". Nasrallah’s death 27 September 2024 came on the back of Israel’s elimination of nearly all of the group’s top commanders. The mass explosions of Hezbollah communications devices also suggest that Israel has managed a deep infiltration of the group’s communications systems. Israel’s assassination of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, its elimination of most of the group's top commanders and the destruction of its communications system – spectacularly illustrated by exploding pagers and walkie-talkies – crippled the Shiite group, leaving it with little choice but to return to the guerrilla tactics it deployed when it began in the 1980s.

Two sources, one a field commander in the party and the other close to him, told Reuters that Hezbollah's leadership was disturbed in the first days following Nasrallah's assassination on September 27, but formed a new "operations room" 72 hours later. Lebanon's Hezbollah denied 11 October 2024 what Reuters quoted from a field commander in the party about choosing a new military leadership and that it is preparing for a long war of attrition. The party said in a statement that what the agency reported was completely false and "nothing but fantasy." Two sources familiar with the operations of the Lebanese Hezbollah told Reuters that it is preparing for a long war of attrition in southern Lebanon , after Israel assassinated a number of its leaders, by choosing a new military leadership to manage the war with Israel. The new command center is operating despite successive Israeli attacks, meaning that fighters in southern Lebanon are able to fight and fire rockets according to orders from Central Command.

The Lebanese party's field commander said fighters were flexible in carrying out orders "according to the front's capabilities," and described the new leadership as a "close circle" in direct contact with the field. It is rare for a Hezbollah field commander to speak to international media.

Avraham Levin, an analyst at the Israeli Alma Research Foundation, said that it should be assumed that Hezbollah is "well prepared and waiting" for Israeli forces, adding that it is not an easy target. "The fact that the chain of command has been destroyed does not negate the ability to fire on Israeli population centers or attempt to hit" Israeli forces, Levin told Reuters, describing Hezbollah as "the same powerful terrorist army that we all know."

The continued pressure from Israel and the significant losses of recent weeks left Hezbollah with no choice but to return to the guerilla tactics it deployed when it was first founded, with Iran’s backing, in 1982. Hezbollah began as a local Islamist militia group whose battlefield tactics mainly consisted of staging ambushes and planting roadside bombs – a far cry from the movement it has now become as one of the main political parties in Lebanon.

“The reorganisation of the movement, which is still trying to contend with its losses, will take months, if not years. Especially since Israel now controls its supply of arms after destroying a large part of its arsenal; it won’t allow Hezbollah to rebuild [another one] like it did over the past 20 years,” said Christophe Ayad, reporter at French daily Le Monde and author of "Géopolitique du Hezbollah". “I think Hezbollah will return to a more modest form of guerilla warfare.”

“Hezbollah, which has also lost a lot of its commanders in the targeted strikes – especially in the drone unit – will finally do what it does best: wage guerilla warfare on the ground, like it did in the 1980s and the 1990s during the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, and in 2006 during the 33-day war against Israel,” Ayad said. This type of warfare would not require Hezbollah to have a command structure in place nor access to sophisticated communications systems, Ayad explained. “Hezbollah units are made up of autonomous cells that consist of all the different types of specialities within a single group,” he said. “They are often made up of men from southern Lebanon who are perfectly familiar with the terrain, the arms caches and the tunnels, and are therefore more than capable of fighting where they are.”

The secrecy and complexity surrounding Hezbollah’s operations make it challenging to have a precise and up-to-date understanding of its chain of command. Additionally, due to the organization’s adaptability, its structural hierarchy and operational modalities might have evolved.

The importance of Hezbollah’s chain-of-command cannot be overemphasized. Using the insurgent’s time honored technique of decentralization, Hezbollah adopted a command structure consciously designed to resist leadership decapitation. The movement was led by a small committee, with no one person able to decisively affect policy decisions. While it did introduce a degree of inefficiency, it also mitigated the loss posed by any one leader if he should be killed. Such concerns were valid. When the IDF realized the leadership being exercised by the ulama, they began a campaign of arrests and assassinations; efforts that proved to be effective for little more than the creation of martyrs.

Hezbollah operates under a hierarchical structure with various bodies responsible for different aspects of its functioning, including military operations, political activities, and social services. The organization’s chain of command is opaque and might have evolved over time. However, based on available information up until September 2021, a simplified representation of Hezbollah's chain of command:

1. Secretary-General: The Secretary-General is the highest-ranking official within Hezbollah.
2. Shura Council: This council is crucial in decision-making and comprises various departments like political, military (Jihad Council), and social. The Secretary-General is also part of the Shura Council.
3. Political Council: Responsible for the political direction of the organization, including participation in Lebanese politics.
4. Executive Council: This council oversees the administrative and social services aspect of Hezbollah.
5. Jihad Council: Responsible for military operations and strategy. Oversees various military commanders and their respective areas of operation.
6. Regional Commanders: Hezbollah’s military structure is divided regionally, and each region has a commander. They oversee the operational aspects, including troop deployment and logistics within their respective regions.
7. Specialized Units: There are commanders for specialized units, such as artillery, infantry, and intelligence. These commanders are experts in their respective fields and oversee the operations of their units.
8. Fighters: The fighters are at the bottom of the chain of command. They execute the plans laid out by their superiors.
9. Other Ancillary Bodies: Various other committees and councils handle other aspects like media, education, and legal affairs.
10. Mahdi Scouts, which acts as a gateway to membership in the ranks of the group’s fighters,

Shura Council

The Shura Council is Hizballah’s supreme decision-making body responsible for religious, military, and strategic matters and asserts control over administrative, planning, and policy-making authorities. In the event of a deadlock in the Shura Council, the Supreme Leader of Iran casts the deciding vote. There are five subordinate councils of the Shura Council: (1) the Executive Council, which oversees the daily activities of Hizballah; (2) the Parliamentary Council, which selects Hizballah’s nominees for parliamentary elections and ensures that the parliamentary representatives carry out the Shura Council’s decisions and policies; (3) the Political Council, which manages relationships with Lebanon’s political parties; (4) the Jihad Council, which oversees all of Hizballah’s military and security operations, deliberates on fighting strategy and tactics, and assesses threats to the organization; and (5) the Judicial Council, which organizes judicial representatives who work with Hizballah on conflict resolution and ensures compliance with their law.

The Shura Council in 2023 consisted of 7 members who made major decisions in the party, most notably the election of the Secretary-General, while decisions within the council are made by majority vote. Each of them also handled a special file and managed a sector of the party. In addition to Nasrallah, the Shura Council included his deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem, political assistant Hussein Khalil, head of the political council Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyid, head of the executive council Hashem Safi al-Din, head of the Sharia Authority Muhammad Yazbek, and director general of the Martyr Foundation Jawad Nour al-Din.

Since the 1980s, Hezbollah has created a network of 15 charitable and social institutions. The main institutions are:

1. The Martyrs' Fund (Mu'assasat al-Shahid), which provides social support to the families of killed militants
2. "Civil defense centers", responsible for dealing with accidents and emergencies
3. "Jihad al-Bina" responsible for restoration of destroyed housing and infrastructure, as well as social housing and road repair
4. "Al-Imdad" — a social services charity

Hezbollah is active in Lebanon and the wider Middle East. Some reports claim there is evidence of Hezbollah operations in Africa, the Americas and Asia. The Shiite movement emerged in 1975, during Lebanon’s civil war. It has fought against Israel over decades and provided support to the Palestinian resistance.

Jihad Council

The Jihad Council ( Arabic : Majlis al-Jihad ) is the supreme command of the terrorist organization Hezbollah . The council, which sits in the Da'ahia district in Beirut, is overseen by the general secretary of Hezbollah . In the years 1992 - 2024 , Hassan Nasrallah was the organization's Secretary General. In 1995, Nasrallah ordered the establishment of the Council. The Council includes the most senior political-military leadership of the organization, it is responsible for the organization's military activities and is equivalent to the Supreme Command Post in the IDF. The identity of its members is, in principle, unknown.

According to the Alma Center, as of November 2023 , the Jihad Council was overseen by Nasrallah and Quds Force commander General Ismail Kaani, and among its members were:

1. Khuder Yusef Nader – “Izz a-Din” – Head of the Security Unit.
2. Mohammed Haidar – Former Member of Parliament, his current role is unclear. He may serve as an advisor to the Council.
3. Talal Hamia – “Abu Jaafar”. Serves as commander of Unit 910 – Hezbollah’s foreign operations and terrorist units. He may also serve as Hezbollah’s chief intelligence officer.
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4. Hassan Nasrallah
5. Ibrahim Aqeel – also known as “Hajj Tahsin” / “Al-Haj Abdul Khader”, briefly de facto military chief.
6. Ali Karachi / Ali Karki – responsible for Hezbollah’s military activity in southern Lebanon (a dominant figure in the context of the war).
7. Hashem Safi al-Din – Head of the Executive Council (whom various reports marked as Nasrallah's intended successor)
8. Fouad Shukar / Fa’ad Shakar, Nasrallah’s military advisor.

On 30 July 2024, the Israeli Air Force attacked the seat of the Jihad Council in the Da'aheh neighborhood and killed the leader of the military wing and the head of the organization's strategic formation, Fouad Shukar, nicknamed "Hezbollah's Chief of Staff". On 20 September 2024, the Israeli Air Force also killed Ebrahim Akil in the Dahaiah district. Following the assassination of Akil, along with the top Radwan force, Nasrallah appointed Talal Hamia and Ali Karachi to fill the place of Akil and Shukar in the council. Operation "New Order" on 27 September 2024 killed Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, along with the commander of Hezbollah's southern front, Ali Karchi , and other senior members of the organization's leadership.

Following Hamas's surprise attack on Israel, the Jihad Council ordered on October 8, 2023 the opening of a limited conflict against Israel. In practice, all branches of the Shura Council are subject to the decisions of the Jihad Council. Hence, the Jihad Council is the nerve center and artery in the organizational structure of Hezbollah. The Jihad Council commands all of Hezbollah's military formations directly, and they are divided into four types of units: territorial units, which are responsible for sectors throughout Lebanon and are equivalent to divisions in their SDF composition; armed units, which include the organization's rocket array and air array - which operates the the UAV arsenal ; headquarters units such as the cyber unit or the finance unit responsible for the financing of the organization; and intelligence units, which include Foreign Intelligence Unit 910, under the command of Talal Hamia. Under the Jihad Council, there are also other units operating in the military system that do not fit these categories, including the elite Radwan Force unit and the Golan Bag unit, which is responsible for the activity directed against Israel from the Bashan terrorist group in southern Syria.

Military Order of Battle

Before the fighting in Syria, Hezbollah characterized itself as a command and control organization - a centralized force whose every military operation was approved by the organization's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah. More recently, a more decentralized hierarchical command model has developed in Hezbollah to enable control over the tens of thousands of combatants divided into a large number of units throughout Lebanon and beyond. On top of that, the command-operational experience acquired by senior members of the organization in the field of the exercise of force in combat, helped their understanding in institutionalizing this concept.

Hezbollah fighters employed a network-and-swarm concept against the Israeli Defense Forces during the Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. They organized in countless small teams that held their own in the field against one of the world's best militaries. The Israeli military, like armed forces of most nations, is organized into a few large, bulky units, while insurgent cells were smaller and far more fluid. Thus the Israeli Army, much of whose striking power was concentrated in armore brigades, had a terrible time trying to deal with the "pop up" attacks by roughly 1,000 eight- to ten-man rebel fire teams. Air strikes against small bands of fighters are problematic, especially in urban terrain -- resulting far more in the killing of innocents than of insurgents.

A reconnaissance-strike complex (RSC) is an organization that coordinates the use of high-precision weapons with real-time intelligence data. The RSC is designed to provide precise targeting to an intelligence and fire direction center. The RSC is not a permanent system, but rather a collection of various subsystems. The Soviets sought to develop these capabilities. In order to maintain a Reconnaissance Strike Complex, Hezbollah is required to establish an array Headquarters (infrastructure) from the top of the organization to the operational end in every unit in LebanonAnd outside of it, communication systems that will allow the construction of the situational picture from unitsthe field to the headquarters, and the transfer of orders from the headquarters to the field in short schedules and at a high rate.

The Hezbollah organization apparently had several programs for operational planning against Israel at least in the fields of fire to the rear and ground attack laterally along the Israel-Lebanon border. Commanders in all ranks of Hezbollah who experienced the war in Syria were actually trained at the Higher War School by the Russian military and experienced in practice the centrality of careful planning within a regulated system. This ranked for goals translated into battles, which ultimately leads to operational achievements. The next level jump in this context would be manifested in the development of the ability to carry out planning based on accurate advance intelligence while fighting.

The military organization that is responsible for Hizbullah's military apparatus consists of a pool of thousands of volunteers who have undergone basic military training, and hundreds more of regular paid professional fighters, who mostly received organized training in Iran. Units that exist in Hezbollah's military apparatus according to open information:

• Strategic missile brigade (long-range) in the Tzur area . Its personnel operate the Syrian rockets with a diameter of 220 mm, as well as an improved Katyusha with a diameter of 122 mm, which Iran increased its firing range from about 22 km to 35 km. These rockets hit Haifa .
• The "Nasr" ("Victory") brigade for firing surface-to-surface rockets for tactical (short) range, numbers about 500 people, occupying the front line and various positions between the villages in the east and in the center of the sector. This division is responsible for most of the Katyusha launches that landed in the northern strip of the State of Israel.
• Unit 4400 - the unit responsible for the transfer of weapons and ammunition from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
• Anti-tank squads scattered throughout southern Lebanon, whose purpose is to delay the ground advance of armored and infantry forces.
• Outpost manning units based on locals undergoing military training, who after their shift at the outpost, return to the village. These units provide backup to the special units in their operation in the area.
• Units operating as part of a village combat sector, in approximately 170 villages south of the Litani River .
• "Unit 910" - the organization's foreign intelligence unit, whose role is to maintain deterrence against Western countries and Israel by carrying out terrorist attacks, espionage operations and covert operations against Israeli and Western targets around the world and is also involved in criminal activity that includes drug trafficking and smuggling. The founder of the unit and its chief commander was Imad Mornia, and its current commander is Talal Hamia . The unit consists of small squads of activists, mostly of Lebanese-Shia origin.
• A counter-intelligence unit - a unit whose role is to secure the organization's activities, prevent the leakage of information from the organization, thwart and expose foreign agents, and protect the lives of the organization's senior officials. The unit operates security guards, interrogation facilities and prisons . It is known about several times when the unit managed to catch foreign agents, apparently of Israel. As part of the instructions of the thwarted intelligence, the organization forbade the use of radio communication for operational messages, and used motorcycles to transmit messages, in order to make it difficult to intercept the messages by eavesdropping.
• An intelligence gathering unit that is engaged in gathering information through espionage, listening to IDF communication networks, obtaining maps and operating cameras. This unit recruited to its ranks Lt. Col. Omar Al-Hayeb, who held senior positions in the IDF, who provided it with a lot of information and various accessories.
• "Unit 1800" - responsible for recruiting, financing and operating terror squads in countries bordering Israel. Led by Hajj Khalil Harev . This unit was responsible for the introduction of Palestinian terrorists at the northern border near Kibbutz Mitzvah in March 2002, in an attack in Mitzvah in which five Israeli civilians and an IDF officer were killed and for the operation of the former Israeli-Palestinian Case Obeid, who is responsible for the kidnapping of Elhanan Tannenbaum. This unit operated a terrorist network in Egypt, which was supposed to carry out attacks against Israelis in Dahab, Taba and Nuaiba.
• Special elite units based in Bekaa, which are deployed for special activities. Such units were used in the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers.
• Radwan Force - whose goal is to penetrate Israel during war and occupy the areas of the Galilee.

IRIGF units generally are organized with three main subordinate units per higher echelon unit. For example, each infantry brigade usually consists of three infantry battalions, each armored brigade usually consists of two armored battalions and a mechanized infantry battalion, and each mechanized infantry brigade generally consists of two mechanized infantry battalions and an armored battalion. Hezbollah frequently operated at the company and even battalion level in Syria, using far larger formations than it usually had in Lebanon when it waged guerilla war against Israel.

Within Lebanon, Hezbollah formed three separate regional units. The Litani Unit was responsible for the South, the Nasr Unit for the North and the Haidar Unit in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah’s overall strength was estimated at 45,000 fighters as of 2017, divided between 21,000 full time fighters and 24,000 in reserve. Outside of Lebanon, Hezbollah had approximately 5,000 fighters operating in Syria who operate closely with Syrian Regime forces and Qods Force operatives. Aside from large troop footprints, Lebanese Hezbollah maintained a globe-spanning covert network of operatives. These networks expanded from their original purpose of serving as launchpads for attacks against the US and Israeli worldwide targets to broader global illicit facilitation as materiel demands from Lebanese Hezbollah increase both in Lebanon and Syria.