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Hizbullah's Growing Internal Challenges
(Al Arabiya) Mona Alami - Hizbullah has reduced its intelligence footprint within Lebanon, due to operational and financial constraints. "Hizbullah has shut many of its secret outposts it had across Lebanon. Some of these were mainly tasked with intelligence gathering operations," says Hassan, a veteran Hizbullah fighter. Sources close to Hizbullah say many of its commanders are deployed regionally, away from Lebanon. "Some are in Syria, others are in Iraq, some are in Yemen. This is effecting deployment on the Lebanese front," says one source. Hizbullah expert Lokman Slim said that after the U.S. killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps top commander Qassem Soleimani, Hizbullah was forced to send dozens of cadres to Iraq to shore up the Iranian faction within the Popular Mobilization Units there. Hizbullah's sources of funding have dried up with growing U.S. sanctions targeting its front companies and middlemen. Resources funneled to Hizbullah via Iran have also been on the decline due to U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Already last year, Hizbullah merged many of its institutions, froze hiring, and closed around 1,000 offices and apartments throughout Lebanon, expert Hanin Ghaddar reported.