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Unreported in the Western Media: Hezbollah Is Losing Popular Support in Lebanon
Former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters through a screen during a rally commemorating the annual Hezbollah Martyrs’ Day, in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Photo: Reuters/Aziz Taher
If one were to rely on the Western media for an assessment of the degree of support among the Lebanese population for Hezbollah, it would be easy to draw the totally erroneous conclusion that the diverse Lebanese ethnic groups have all rallied around Hezbollah.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. From the Christians to the Druze, and from the Sunnis to the dominant Shiites, there is a massive revulsion being expressed against the Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah, which had bullied its way toward becoming a mafia-like state within a state.
For the first time in over four decades, the Lebanese terrorist group appears frail. Following the elimination of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Sep. 27, the halo around its invulnerable strength against Israel and other regional rivals faded rapidly. Now the group is facing local disgruntlement, added to its diminishing ability to get involved in military conflicts around the region, including Syria and Yemen.
The terrorist organization — which was once considered to be one of the richest in the world thanks to the influx of narcotics money — is currently suffering its worst crisis and no longer perceived by the Lebanese public eye as a defender of their land.
Even before the death of Nasrallah, the Shia population showed disdain towards Hezbollah and its leader for hijacking their lives, and forcing the people to obey its Iranian-affiliated command or face dire consequences or death.
Shia Muslim Dissidence Toward Hezbollah and Iran
A major vocal critic of Hezbollah is prominent Lebanese Shia scholar Ali Al-Amin, who is influential amongst the Lebanese Shia population. In statements to Al Arabiya News on Oct 10, Al-Amin stressed the necessity of handing over Hezbollah’s weapons to the Lebanese army. He added, “In light of the presence of weapons other than those of the state, concern remains.”
“We expressed our opinion on this war after it broke out, and we said that it was not beneficial for Gaza and would harm Lebanon and put it in danger. As for saying that the Israeli threats were a clear justification for entering the war, this is an incorrect statement because these threats existed before October 7, 2023, so why didn’t Hezbollah declare war because of them?” said Al-Amin.
Lebanese Shia leaders, including Ali Al-Amin, blame Hezbollah for the demise of Lebanon and the hardships that Lebanese people are suffering there. Most importantly, the Shia opinions and anger towards both Hezbollah and Iran are dramatically increasing in Lebanon, with many accusing Iran of throwing Lebanon under the bus through its agent Nasrallah.
Real Anger Against Hezbollah Openly Expressed in the Media
Furthermore, the level of anger amongst average Shia Muslim Lebanese citizens, who were harmed by the terrorist group’s decision to go to war, runs deeper.
“Our building is destroyed, orders were issued that we can’t go back and bring our clothes … They tell us, that’s your problem, work it out! We don’t have money to eat, they respond that this is a decision from the security and anyone who goes back home will be shot at. They want to take decisions on our homes on our behalf” said one desperate Lebanese citizen from Beirut’s southern district — which is Hezbollah’s stronghold — in a viral video online on Oct 17.
The disdain towards Hezbollah is not just emitting from Lebanese Shia scholars — it far extends into the Shia Muslim population in the country. One of the more vocal voices against Hezbollah and the Iranian control of the country is political analyst Hadi Murad.
“This Iranian expansion is calling for fighting till the last Shia Muslim in Lebanon … The Iranian is not welcomed to give us orders from above,” said Murad in a short video posted for Lebanese network Al Mashad on his Facebook page on Oct 7th.
Other non-Shia Lebanese citizens called upon the Shia population in Lebanon to seize this crisis as an opportunity to rise against the dominance of Hezbollah and Iran.
Lebanese Judicial Commissioner Peter Germanos did just that in an interview for Al Hadath Network on October 10th.
“This is an opportunity for the esteemed Shia sector in Lebanon. We know as Lebanese who have a lot of friends that many Shia advocates don’t support Hezbollah and many others who used to sympathize with Hezbollah and today, they realized that Iran exploited that situation and there is an Iranian betrayal and that is apparent,” said Germanos.
Germanos went on to call for an uprising by Lebanese Shia against Iran.
“What is required now is a Shia uprising, the key to the solution for this (crisis) is a genuine Shia uprising for Shias to not have their sons killed for the sake of the Iranian nuclear program,” said Germanos.
New Exposés of Hezbollah Operations and Its Use of Human Shields
The “Lebanese Survivor” YouTube channel, which is operated by former Lebanese army General Tabet Tabet, has been exposing Hezbollah secret operations for years. A report from October 17th said, “What Hezbollah leaders, media and politicians used to say that if you (Israel) attack us we will attack you and march on Galilee and Jerusalem, but the fact today is that when you (Israel) hits us, we run away. And yesterday, we had Mohamed Raad (a Hezbollah-affliated MP) and Wafiq Safa (Hezbollah’s Coordination and Liaison Officer) shamelessly hide among civilians in Beirut.”
“You have Hezbollah storing its weapons and munitions inside civilian homes,” said the report.
Mohamed Shoieb is a Lebanese activist and founder of the Southern Independent People Front. His daughter was once kidnapped by Hezbollah, and three commercial stores he owned were shut down by order of Hezbollah. As a Shia resident of southern Lebanon, he is fed up with Hezbollah policies.
“Take it from me and I am responsible for every word I say; more than 95 percent of the southern Lebanon population are objecting to the rule of Hezbollah but they are afraid,” said Shoeib in an interview in September.
At this stage, even though Hezbollah has taken a beating by the Israelis, it is far too premature to announce the permanent demise of Iran’s most favored terrorist proxy in the Middle East. For years, few dared to criticize Hezbollah for fear of losing their lives. Hezbollah had no qualms about executing Lebanon’s leaders, journalists, Christians, and Druze — and don’t forget their savagery in Syria, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians at the order of Syria’s Assad.
Still, the open criticism of Hezbollah’s reign of terror by leading Lebanese from all religious backgrounds signals the possibility that Iran’s grip over Lebanon may finally be coming to an end.
Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Senior Fellow Hany Ghoraba is an Egyptian writer, political and counter-terrorism analyst at Al Ahram Weekly, and a regular contributor to the BBC. He is the author of Egypt’s Arab Spring: The Long and Winding Road to Democracy He is a writer and contributor for over a dozen international outlets, periodicals and networks including Newsmax, OANN, BBC Radio, CSP, MEF, American Spectator, American Thinker, Arab Weekly, and Al Arabiya News. A different version of this article was first published by IPT.
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Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Says ‘Counteroffer’ Coming as Talks Stall Over Uranium Enrichment, Sanctions
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran has denounced the latest nuclear proposal from the United States as “unprofessional and untechnical,” reaffirming the country’s right to enrich uranium and announcing plans to present a counteroffer in the coming days.
“After receiving the American proposal regarding the Iranian nuclear program, we are now preparing a counteroffer,” Ali Shamkhnai, political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Shamkhani criticized the White House draft proposal as “not well thought out,” emphasizing its alleged failure to address sanction relief — a key demand for Tehran under any deal with Washington.
“There is no mention whatsoever of lifting sanctions in the latest American proposal, even though the issue of sanctions is a fundamental matter for Iran,” Shamkhnai said.
The Iranian official also warned that Tehran will not allow the US to dismantle its “peaceful nuclear program” or force uranium enrichment down to zero.
“Iran will never relinquish its natural rights,” Shamkhani said.
Washington’s draft proposal for a new nuclear deal was delivered by Omani officials — who have been mediating negotiations between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff — during last month’s talks in Rome.
On Wednesday, Khamenei dismissed such an offer, saying it “contradicts our nation’s belief in self-reliance” and runs counter to Iran’s key objectives.
“The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100 percent against our interests,” the Iranian leader said during a televised speech.
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?” Khamenei continued.
After five rounds of talks, diplomatic efforts have yet to yield results as both adversaries clash over Iran’s demand to maintain its domestic uranium enrichment program — a condition the White House has firmly rejected.
In April, Tehran and Washington held their first official nuclear negotiation since the US withdrew from a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal that had imposed temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief.
Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has sought to curtail Tehran’s potential to develop a nuclear weapon that could spark a regional arms race and pose a threat to Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran seeks to have Western sanctions on its oil-dependent economy lifted, while maintaining its nuclear enrichment program — which the country insists is solely for civilian purposes.
As part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran — which aims to cut the country’s crude exports to zero and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon — Washington has been targeting Tehran’s oil industry with mounting sanctions.
Amid the ongoing diplomatic deadlock, Israel has declared it will never allow the Islamist regime to acquire nuclear weapons, as the country views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to uphold any agreement that prevents Tehran from enriching uranium.
“But in any case, Israel maintains the right to defend itself from a regime that is threatening to annihilate it,” Netanyahu said in a press conference last month, following reports that Jerusalem could strike Iranian nuclear sites if ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran fail.
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Day After Colorado Attack, Founder of Anti-Israel Group Chides Activists Who Are Insufficiently ‘Pro-Resistance’
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of WithinOurLifetime (WOL), leading a pro-Hamas demonstration in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024. Photo: Michael Nigro via Reuters Connect
Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of the radical anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime, chastised those within the pro-Palestinian movement who only support “resistance” in the abstract but not in practice following Sunday’s antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado.
“A lot of people who call themselves anti-Zionist or pro-resistance don’t actually understand what resistance is,” Kiswani posted on X/Twitter on Monday. “They support it in theory, but when it shows up in practice, they hesitate, distance themselves, or shift the conversation entirely.”
She continued, “And it makes it even harder for those of us who are principled to take public stances. We’re already marginalized, already painted as extreme or dangerous and that isolation only deepens when others in the movement won’t stand firm when it counts.”
Kiswani’s comments came the day after a man threw Molotov cocktails at a Boulder gathering where participants were rallying in support of the Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza — which resulted in 15 injuries, including some critically, in what US authorities called a targeted terrorist attack. Her tweets also came less than two weeks after a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they were leaving an at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. In both attacks, the perpetrator yelled “Free Palestine” as they targeted innocent civilians, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
After Kiswani’s social media posts sparked some backlash among pro-Israel users on X, she provided limited pushback on the idea that it was an expression of support for the prior day’s attack in Colorado.
“Zionists are freaking out in the QTs about this, insisting it’s about Colorado,” she wrote. “Newsflash: the world doesn’t revolve around you. Resistance hasn’t stopped in Gaza, look at what just happened in Jabalia [where three IDF soldiers were killed] for instance. The perpetual victimhood is getting old.”
However, Kiswani did not say her comment had no connection to the attack in Colorado, and she did not say that she opposed the firebombing.
Kiswani and her group, Within Our Lifetime (WOL), have been at the forefront of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activism since Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages during their invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a massacre that started the war in Gaza.
On Oct. 8, 2023, one day after the biggest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, WOL organized a protest to celebrate the prior day’s attack, which it described as an effort to “defend the heroic Palestinian resistance.” Kiswani notably refused to condemn Hamas and the Oct. 7 massacre following the atrocities.
Then, in Apil 2024, Kiswani refused to condemn the chant “Death to America” and organized a mass demonstration to block the “arteries of capitalism” by staging a blockade of commercial shipping ports across the world in protest of Western support for the Jewish state. That same month, she was banned from Columbia University’s campus in New York City after leading chants calling for an “intifada,” or violent uprising.
The following month, Kiswani led a demonstration in Brooklyn, New York in which she lambasted the local police department, claimed then-US President Joe Biden will soon die, and called for the destruction of Israel.
That proceeded the activist saying she does not want Zionists “anywhere” in the world while speaking in defense of a person who called for “Zionists” to leave a crowded subway car in New York City.
WOL, which planned a protest last year to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, was also behind demonstrations at the Nova Music Festival exhibit, which commemorated the more than 300 civilians slaughtered by Hamas while at a music festival.
The latter protest prompted widespread condemnation, including from Biden and even progressive members of the US Congress who are outspoken against Israel.
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for example, posted on social media that the “callousness, dehumanization, and targeting of Jews on display at last night’s protest outside the Nova Festival exhibit was atrocious antisemitism – plain and simple.”
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Israel’s Defense Exports Hit Record $15 Billion in 2024 Despite European Pressure, Calls for Arms Embargo
Israeli troops on the ground in Gaza. Photo: IDF via Reuters
Israel reached a new all-time high in defense exports in 2024, nearing $15 billion — the fourth consecutive year of record-breaking sales — despite mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza and growing pressure from European countries to suspend arms deals.
In a press release on Wednesday, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that defense exports reached over $14.7 billion last year — a 13 percent increase from 2023 — with more than half of the deals valued at over $100 million.
According to the ministry, Israel’s military exports have more than doubled over the past five years, highlighting the industry’s rapid expansion and growing global demand.
“This tremendous achievement is a direct result of the successes of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and defense industries against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the Ayatollah regime in Iran, and in additional arenas where we operate against Israel’s enemies,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“The world sees Israeli strength and seeks to be a partner in it. We will continue strengthening the IDF and the Israeli economy through security innovation to ensure clear superiority against any threat – anywhere and anytime,” Katz continued.
In 2024, over half of the Jewish state’s defense contracts were with European countries — up from 35 percent the previous year — as many in the region have increased their defense spending following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Despite increasing pressure and widespread anti-Israel sentiment among European governments amid the current conflict in Gaza, this latest data seems to contradict recent calls by European leaders to impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state over its defensive campaign in Gaza against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
On Wednesday, Germany reversed its earlier threat to halt arms deliveries to Israel, reaffirming its commitment to continue cooperation and maintain defense contracts with Jerusalem.
“Germany will continue to support the State of Israel, including with arms deliveries,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told lawmakers in parliament.
Last week, Berlin warned it would take unspecified measures against Israel if it continued its military campaign in Gaza, citing concerns that exported weapons were being used in violation of humanitarian law.
“Our full support for the right to exist and the security of the State of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip,” Wadephul said in a statement.
Germany would be “examining whether what is happening in the Gaza Strip is compatible with international humanitarian law,” he continued. “Further arms deliveries will be authorized based on the outcome of that review.”
Spain and Ireland are among the countries in Europe that have threatened or taken steps to limit arms deals with Israel, while others such as France have threatened unspecified harsh measures against the Jewish state.
According to the Israeli defense ministry’s report, since the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the operational successes and proven battlefield performance of Israeli systems have fueled strong international demand for Israel’s defense technology.
Last year, the export of missiles, rockets, and air defense systems reached a new high, making up 48 percent of the total deal volume — up from 36 percent in 2023.
Similarly, satellite and space systems exports surged, accounting for 8 percent of total deals in 2024 — quadrupling their share from 2 percent in 2023.
While Europe dominated Israel’s defense export market in 2024, significant portions also went to other regions. Asia and the Pacific made up 23 percent of total sales — slightly lower than in previous years, when the region approached 30 percent.
Exports to Abraham Accords countries fell to 12 percent, down from 23 percent in 2022, while North America remained stable at around 9 percent.
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