Israel’s Contradiction: From ‘Defeating Hezbollah’ to Warning It Has Rebuilt Itself

For nearly a year, Israel claimed victory.
Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in November 2024, Israeli officials and media repeatedly boasted that they had destroyed more than 80% of Hezbollah’s capabilities and that the movement was no longer a threat to Israel.
The message was clear: after 66 days of war, Israel wanted to present a narrative of total victory, one that justified the heavy cost of the war and restored its deterrence image in the region.

Today, that same Israel is saying something entirely different.
Over the past month, Israeli military officials and security commentators have been warning that Hezbollah has rebuilt itself and now represents the main source of danger to Israel.

How did a movement that Israel claimed to have dismantled just a few months ago suddenly become a renewed existential threat?

The Illusion of Victory

The truth is, Israel’s declared victory was largely a political and psychological illusion.
Yes, Israel did achieve significant tactical successes, from the terrorist pager operation, which targeted Hezbollah’s communication networks, to the assassinations of key leaders, including Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine.
These were painful blows, intended to break the chain of command and weaken the morale of the Resistance.
But none of this translated into strategic victory.

Despite facing the full might of the Israeli Air Force, an American-backed coalition, and relentless bombardment of its infrastructure, Hezbollah managed to strike Tel Aviv on the very last day of the war.
That single fact shattered Israel’s claims: if after 66 days of total warfare Hezbollah was still able to hit the heart of Israel, then the Resistance had not been defeated, it had endured.

A Failure on the Ground

Even more telling was Israel’s failure to launch a ground invasion.
After amassing more than 75,000 troops on the border, Israel repeatedly tried to invade southern Lebanon and “eliminate Hezbollah from within.”
Yet, despite the destruction inflicted from the air, the Israeli army never crossed into Lebanon in any meaningful way.
The cost and risk were simply too high.
That hesitation exposed the limits of Israel’s power and the enduring deterrence that Hezbollah’s capabilities still impose.

Therefore, Israel needed to inflate its achievements, portraying the war as a decisive victory and claiming to have destroyed the Resistance, while in reality, the truth was far from it.
The image of triumph became a political necessity, not a reflection of facts on the ground.

The Real Message

When Israel now says that Hezbollah “has rebuilt itself,” it is not revealing new intelligence, it is admitting its own failure.
The Resistance was never destroyed to begin with.
It was bruised, but not broken.
Its ability to reemerge so quickly only confirms that its structure, support, and experience remain intact.

Moreover, this shift in rhetoric raises an important question: is Israel warning of a rebuilt Hezbollah because it genuinely fears a renewed threat, or because it needs new pretexts, either to justify future strikes on Lebanon or to pressure the Lebanese government into a confrontation with the Resistance?
In the calculations of Israeli generals and security officials, any future war will certainly be fought against a Resistance that still exists and may possess capabilities Israel does not fully understand or even know of..

Lebanon’s Strongest Card

For Lebanon, this episode carries a clear lesson.
The Resistance remains the country’s strongest card, not a burden, but a guarantee that Israel cannot impose its will militarily or politically.
Lebanon must never let go of this card, no matter the cost, in a fragile region where alliances shift overnight and balance is fleeting, the Resistance remains Lebanon’s safeguard and its only true guarantee against aggression and occupation.

ibrahimt majed