Labour Friends of Israel has released a new policy paper, Hezbollah: Tehran’s most powerful proxy. It explores the course of Hezbollah’s actions since 7 October, as well as the group’s evolving relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the State of Lebanon.
Long the world’s most well-armed non-state group, Hezbollah represents the crown jewel in Tehran’s anti-western ‘axis of resistance’. After instigating a bloody war against Israel in 2006 and killing hundreds around the world in terror attacks, Hezbollah began bombarding Israel one day after the 7 October massacre.
Over the course of several months, Hezbollah launched thousands of separate attacks on Israeli civilian and military targets, killing dozens and displacing more than 60,000 Israelis in the process. In August 2024, fighting escalated after a Hezbollah missile killed 12 children.
By the signing of a November 2024 ceasefire, Israel had eliminated over half of Hezbollah’s weapons stockpiles and much of the group’s senior command. Until the current Iran war, Hezbollah avoided direct confrontation with Israel in favour of quietly replenishing its arsenal — a fundamental violation of the November ceasefire.
Iran oversaw Hezbollah’s rearmament by exploiting financial service platforms, maritime routes and third-country smuggling networks. The U.S. Treasury Department concluded that throughout 2025, Tehran transferred $1bn to its proxy. At the same time, the Islamic Republic’s IRGC units further embedded themselves in Hezbollah’s strategic planning process.
As it has previously done, Hezbollah resolved to transform Lebanon into a battleground of the ongoing Iran war by renewing its missile fire on Israel in early March. Lebanon’s government responded by taking unprecedented action against the group, including banning its military activities and pledging to ramp up efforts to disarm the Iran-backed terror group.
“In resuscitating Hezbollah, the Iranian regime had all but guaranteed the next cycle of war and bloodshed.”
Read the full policy paper to learn:
• The strategic calculations behind Hezbollah’s decision to escalate its confrontation with Israel in recent weeks
• The history of Hezbollah’s involvement in transnational narcotics and terrorism
• The factors which enabled Hezbollah’s rearmament following the November 2024 ceasefire
• The story of Hezbollah’s decades-long rise in Lebanon
