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After Assad, Hizbullah's Empire in Syria Shrinks to Cells, Smugglers, and Cheap Rockets
(Medialine) Ahmad Al Kwaider - For years, Hizbullah helped keep Bashar Assad in power in Syria with thousands of fighters, open supply lines, and bases visible on satellite imagery. Now Syrian authorities say Hizbullah looks different: a small group operating near Damascus with drones, Katyusha rockets, and weapons that came from Lebanon. David Des Roches, a U.S. defense and strategic expert, said, "Hizbullah has long operated as a 'state within a state,' and losing unimpeded land access across Syria is a major strategic blow. Without Syria as an open corridor, Hizbullah shifts from being an organized military force with reliable supply routes into something closer to a network dependent on smuggling and limited access." Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said, "Hizbullah still manages activity in Syria near the Lebanese border. They have been able to build cells that help smuggle weapons....It is not the strategic infrastructure it once was, but the network has not been fully dismantled." This helps explain Israel's posture in southern Syria, aimed at blocking Hizbullah and other Iranian-aligned elements from entrenching near its border. "Israel believes it needs a military presence to prevent Hizbullah and Iranian-backed cells from deploying in southern Syria," Kuperwasser said. "The U.S. would prefer a solution that makes Israel's presence unnecessary, but for now it understands Israel's logic."