Hezbollah pays steep price to go to war with Israel

Hezbollah has paid a heavy price for going to war with Israel on March 2: Israel has occupied a chunk of southern Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands of its Shi'ite Muslim constituents and killed as many as several thousand of its fighters, according to previously unreported casualty estimates from within the group.



The move has brought severe political consequences, too.



In Beirut, opposition has hardened to its status as an armed group, which domestic rivals see as exposing Lebanon to repeated wars with Israel.



In April, Lebanon's government held face-to-face talks with Israel for the first time in decades, a decision Hezbollah firmly opposed.



However, more than a dozen Hezbollah officials said they see a chance to reverse deteriorating fortunes by aligning with Tehran in its war with Israel and the United States.



The group, founded by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1982, opened fire two days into the conflict, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.



The group's calculations are based on the assessment that its participation would force Lebanon onto the agenda of U.S.-Iranian negotiations, and that Iranian pressure can secure a more robust ceasefire than one that took effect in November 2024 following a conflict sparked by the war in Gaza