- Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance
Vigil category device — drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role. Not an official insignia.
In brief
The armed organisation of Hezbollah — banned from military and security activity by the Lebanese cabinet on 2 March 2026, yet a combatant in the war that opened that day. Its existence and its fighting in 2026 are confirmed; its internal form after the 2024 decapitation and a reported reorganisation into smaller units, with Iranian help, is not.
- Scope
- Structure, role, lineage and links. 6 subordinate records published.
- Subordination
- Subordination unknown
- Sources
- 14 on the record
- Record state
- Partial
- Broad area of activity
- Lebanon, with fire across the border into Israel; described at national scale only — no sectors, areas or positions are represented.
- Notable history
- Hezbollah's military organisation grew from the early 1980s into the strongest armed force in Lebanon, widely assessed as outgunning the state's own army. The war with Israel that began in October 2023 broke its command layer. Between July and October 2024 Israel killed two Secretaries-General in succession and the senior military figures whose deaths Hezbollah confirmed — among them the commanders it named for the southern front and the air unit, and the men Israel identified as the heads of operations, the Radwan Force and the missile force — after pager and radio attacks on 17–18 September had struck its members across units. Naim Qassem was elected Secretary-General on 29 October 2024. Hezbollah said it had appointed replacements and rebuilt its command, but has named no successor to any military post. On 23 November 2025 Israel said it had killed the organisation's chief of staff in Beirut; Hezbollah confirmed the death without stating his office. Three investigations relying on anonymous sources — Le Figaro (October 2025), Reuters (21 March 2026) and Middle East Eye (August 2026) — report that Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers helped rebuild the military command after 2024 and that the organisation moved from a hierarchy to smaller, compartmented units. Reuters attributes the change to the Guard, on the word of two sources, and its claim of direct supervision rests on one; Middle East Eye's sources credit Hezbollah's own return to an older guerrilla model. Neither Hezbollah nor Iran has acknowledged a supervisory role. On 2 March 2026 Hezbollah entered the US–Israeli war on Iran, and the same day the Lebanese cabinet banned its military and security activity, confining it to political work and ordering the army to act north of the Litani. The war in Lebanon was halted by a ceasefire in June 2026; the Israel–Lebanon framework signed in Washington on 26 June 2026, which ties Israeli withdrawal to the verified dismantling of non-state armed groups, was publicly rejected by Hezbollah's leadership. The United States, which has designated Hizballah a Foreign Terrorist Organization effective 8 October 1997 (62 FR 52650), re-designated it on 20 August 2026.
- Strengths
- An organisation that survived the loss of its pre-2024 senior command and fought again in 2026 — firing for more than three months, across the front, alongside a ground fight against an Israeli operation, and then largely stopping its fire into Israel when the June ceasefire took effect, which is itself evidence of a functioning command. A party and social base sustain it, and — by its own account and in US and Israeli assessments — external funding continued. What the 2026 war demonstrated is function, not structure. No arsenal, strength or capability figure is carried: the published estimates rest on incompatible baselines and are almost all Israeli claims.
- Limitations
- Its legal standing in Lebanon has changed: the state now bans its military activity, and how far that ban has been implemented — south of the Litani, where the army declared its first phase complete in January 2026, or north of it — is not established by any independent report Vigil holds for September–October 2026. The overland supply route through Syria closed with the fall of the Assad government in December 2024. What is not known is the larger part: the present command arrangement, whether the Jihad Council still functions as a council, how far the reported decentralisation has gone, and how much of the pre-2024 unit structure survives. The named functions below are recorded as functions, not as a current order of battle. Israeli claims of commanders killed and capabilities destroyed are the IDF's claims.
Subordinate formations
Commands & districts 4
Units & detachments 1
Directorates 1
Rows are layout only — position and order carry no hierarchy, importance, sequence or strength. Every record shown is an immediate subordinate of the selected organisation. Headings are derived from each record’s own type and echelon. They are not command layers, and no such layer exists in the force tree.
Related organisations
- Quds Force Externally supported by · as of 2026-08 · moderate confidence
Iranian support — funding, weapons and training — is documented over decades. Three investigations relying on anonymous sources (Le Figaro, October 2025; Reuters, 21 March 2026; Middle East Eye, August 2026) report Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers helping to rebuild the military command after 2024; Reuters says "IRGC" throughout, and its claim of direct supervision rests on one source. The IRGC announced joint missile operations with Hezbollah in March 2026, on its own account. The US Treasury, re-designating Hizballah on 20 August 2026 (release sb0611), described it as serving the Iranian regime "under the command of" the IRGC-Qods Force; that is the US government's legal characterisation and is attributed to it. Vigil's position is unchanged: support and influence are not command, and the edge records support, not a chain of command.
Lineage & institutional history
Formal parent institution: Hezbollah (the party; Secretary-General and Shura Council). The military organisation answers to the party's leadership by the party's own account; how far that line has been reshaped by Iranian involvement since 2024 is reported and unresolved.
Dated structural changes
2026-03-02 Change The Lebanese cabinet banned Hezbollah's military and security activity as unlawful on the day it opened fire on Israel, confining the party to political work and ordering the army and security agencies to prevent launches and arrest violators. The ban changed the organisation's legal standing in Lebanon; how far it has been implemented is not independently established.
2025-11-23 Command change Israel said it had killed the organisation's chief of staff in Beirut; Hezbollah confirmed the death without stating his office. The Israeli identification of the post is the IDF's claim.
2024-10 Command change Between July and October 2024 Israel killed two Secretaries-General in succession and the senior military figures whose deaths Hezbollah confirmed, after the pager and radio attacks of 17–18 September; Naim Qassem was elected Secretary-General on 29 October 2024. Hezbollah has named no successor to any military post.
Campaigns
Campaigns naming this organisation as a participant. The campaign record owns the relationship and grades it; this list is computed.
- The Lebanon front, 2023–2024 Opposing force · 8 October 2023 – 27 November 2024 · high confidence · as of 2024-11
- Lebanon's declared state monopoly of arms Affected party · Declared plan · high confidence · as of 2026-07
The object of the declared plan, which has rejected it. Its ministers remained in the government after the 2 March 2026 ban.
- The 2026 Lebanon war Opposing force · Since 2 March 2026 · high confidence · as of 2026-06
UNIFIL recorded 6,929 trajectories from north to south of the Blue Line between 21 February and 20 June 2026, many of which did not cross it, and 52,514 from south to north (S/2026/566). The north-to-south count is not attributed to a party, and each trajectory may be more than one projectile. The IRGC announced joint missile operations with Hezbollah from 11 March, on its own account.
Quick actions
System access
Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.
Assessed as of — 2026-10 Last reviewed — 2026-10-29
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