How October 7 changed Lebanon and Hezbollah’s political reality

Beirut, Lebanon – A day after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Hezbollah made the decision to join the war, in what it said was support of the Palestinian people. It is a decision that analysts say has forever shaped Lebanese politics.Experts said the group had underestimated the depth of Israel’s intelligence penetration in the run-up to the war, which later manifested in the bloody September 2024 pager attack and the assassination of much of Hezbollah’s leadership, including Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3King David Hotel bombing to consulate row: A timeline of UK-Israel tensionlist 2 of 3Gaza war sped up India’s shift towards Israel under Modilist 3 of 3October 7 redrew the map of the Middle East, opening new faultlinesend of list“Hezbollah got sucked into a vortex which culminated in the decapitation of their leadership and the invasion of south Lebanon,” Nicholas Blanford, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of a book about Hezbollah, told Al Jazeera. “That dealt Hezbollah a major blow to their popular standing and galvanised the election of J...