Hezbollah rebuilding drones and explosives stock with Iranian money, Reuters says

Hezbollah has received tens of millions of dollars from Iran and has spent roughly the last three months preparing for the possibility of a new round of fighting with Israel, according to a Reuters report cited by several Israeli outlets on Monday. Israel Hayom reported that the news agency based its account on Lebanese security officials who had been briefed on the group's activities, and that the effort centres on obtaining explosives and building drones intended to hit Israeli positions.

Ynet reported that, according to Lebanese security figures, the organisation has been working in recent months to replenish its stockpiles and to rebuild a chain of command that suffered heavy damage in the war. The same Lebanese figures said Hezbollah is on alert for a possible escalation between the United States and Iran, but has not finished its preparations and is wary of handing Israel a reason to launch a wide offensive.

Who Hezbollah is and why Iranian money matters

Hezbollah is an armed Lebanese organisation, described by the Israeli outlets as a terrorist group, that receives funding from Iran. The reports describe the latest money as a transfer from Tehran meant to let the group restart and rebuild its operations. Israeli coverage presents the funding as the factor enabling the current push: The Jerusalem Post headlined its report as Hezbollah readying for a new regional war with funds from Iran, while The Times of Israel framed it as rearming for a possible renewed conflict with Israel, attributing the claim to Lebanese sources.

The emphasis on drones and explosives is the detail the officials quoted by Reuters chose to highlight. The reports do not explain whether this reflects a shift in strategy, a constraint on what the group can currently obtain, or simply what the briefed officials knew about.

The aftermath of the last war

The reports refer to a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in which the group's command structure was badly hit. The Jerusalem Post's coverage carried a photograph from a ceremony in Beirut marking the second anniversary of the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The current reporting describes an organisation trying to recover from that damage rather than one operating at full strength.

Hezbollah's response

Hezbollah reacted to the report, according to the Hebrew news channel News.co.il. The group said that attacking what it called the Israeli occupation is its legitimate right, and it rejected the claim that its leadership had been weakened, stating that "our command system was not hurt."

That statement is at odds with the Lebanese security officials' account as reported by Ynet, which described the command structure as badly damaged and in the process of being rebuilt. The two positions are presented here as reported; this page does not resolve between them.

The regional backdrop

According to the Lebanese security figures cited by Ynet, Hezbollah's state of readiness is linked to the prospect of a confrontation between Washington and Tehran. In that reading, the group is positioning itself for a scenario in which a wider clash involving its patron could draw it in. The same officials stressed the counterweight: that Hezbollah does not want to give Israel grounds for a large-scale attack before it is ready.

What the reports do not say

• None of the reports gives an exact figure for the Iranian funding beyond tens of millions of dollars, or explains how the money reached Lebanon.
• The underlying Reuters report is cited secondhand by the Israeli outlets; the officials quoted in it are not named.
• The reports do not include any response from the Israeli military or government, or from Iran.
• They do not quantify how many drones or how much explosive material Hezbollah has acquired or produced.
• They do not say how close the group is to completing its preparations, only that, according to Lebanese officials, it has not yet done so.