- Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance
Vigil category device — drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role. Not an official insignia.
In brief
The armed organisation of Hezbollah — banned from military and security activity by the Lebanese cabinet on 2 March 2026, yet a combatant in the war that opened that day. Its existence and its fighting in 2026 are confirmed; its internal form after the 2024 decapitation and a reported Iranian-supervised reorganisation is not.
- Scope
- Structure, role, lineage and links. 6 subordinate records published.
- Subordination
- Subordination unknown
- Sources
- 10 on the record
- Record state
- Partial
- Broad area of activity
- Lebanon, with fire across the border into Israel; described at national scale only — no sectors, areas or positions are represented.
- Notable history
- Hezbollah's military organisation grew from the early 1980s into the strongest armed force in Lebanon, widely assessed as outgunning the state's own army. The war with Israel that began in October 2023 broke its command layer: in September and October 2024 Israel killed the Secretary-General and most of the senior military command, including members of the Jihad Council and the heads of its elite, missile, drone and logistics units, before the cessation of hostilities of 27 November 2024. On 23 November 2025 Israel said it had killed the organisation's chief of staff in Beirut, and Hezbollah confirmed the death. Reuters reported on 21 March 2026, citing anonymous sources, that Quds Force officers had arrived after the 2024 ceasefire, audited the military organisation and taken direct supervision of it, replacing a hierarchical command with decentralised small units; the report is attributed and its detail unverified. On 2 March 2026 Hezbollah entered the US–Israeli war on Iran, and the same day the Lebanese cabinet banned its military and security activity, confining it to political work and ordering the army to act north of the Litani. The war in Lebanon was halted by a ceasefire in June 2026; the Israel–Lebanon framework signed in Washington on 26 June 2026, which ties Israeli withdrawal to the verified dismantling of non-state armed groups, was publicly rejected by Hezbollah's leadership. The United States, which has designated Hizballah a Foreign Terrorist Organization effective 8 October 1997 (62 FR 52650), re-designated it on 20 August 2026.
- Strengths
- An organisation that has survived the loss of almost its entire pre-2024 command and still fought a war in 2026, a party and social base that sustain it, and — by its own account and in US and Israeli assessments — continued external funding. No arsenal, strength or capability figure is carried.
- Limitations
- Its legal standing in Lebanon has changed: the state now bans its military activity, and how far that ban has been implemented — south of the Litani, where the army declared its first phase complete in January 2026, or north of it — is not established by any independent report Vigil holds for September–October 2026. The overland supply route through Syria closed with the fall of the Assad government in December 2024. What is not known is the larger part: the present command arrangement, whether the Jihad Council still functions as a council, how far the reported decentralisation has gone, and how much of the pre-2024 unit structure survives. The named functions below are recorded as functions, not as a current order of battle. Israeli claims of commanders killed and capabilities destroyed are the IDF's claims.
Subordinate formations
Commands & districts 4
Units & detachments 1
Directorates 1
Rows are layout only — position and order carry no hierarchy, importance, sequence or strength. Every record shown is an immediate subordinate of the selected organisation. Headings are derived from each record’s own type and echelon. They are not command layers, and no such layer exists in the force tree.
Related organisations
- Quds Force Externally supported by · as of 2026-08 · moderate confidence
Iranian support — funding, weapons and training — is documented over decades, and Reuters (21 March 2026, anonymous sources) reported Quds Force officers supervising the military organisation's post-2024 reorganisation. The US Treasury, re-designating Hizballah on 20 August 2026 (release sb0611), described it as serving the Iranian regime "under the command of" the IRGC-Qods Force; that is the US government's legal characterisation and is attributed to it. Vigil's position is unchanged: support and influence are not command, and the edge records support, not a chain of command.
Lineage & institutional history
Formal parent institution: Hezbollah (the party; Secretary-General and Shura Council). The military organisation answers to the party's leadership by the party's own account; how far that line has been reshaped by Iranian supervision since 2024 is reported and unresolved.
Campaigns
Campaigns naming this organisation as a participant. The campaign record owns the relationship and grades it; this list is computed.
- The Lebanon front, 2023–2024 Opposing force · 8 October 2023 – 27 November 2024 · high confidence · as of 2024-11
- Lebanon's declared state monopoly of arms Affected party · Declared plan · high confidence · as of 2026-07
The object of the declared plan, which has rejected it. Its ministers remained in the government after the 2 March 2026 ban.
- The 2026 Lebanon war Opposing force · Since 2 March 2026 · high confidence · as of 2026-06
UNIFIL recorded 52,514 trajectories from north to south of the Blue Line between 21 February and 20 June 2026 (S/2026/566); the report notes that each trajectory may be more than one projectile.
Quick actions
System access
Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.
Assessed as of — 2026-10 Last reviewed — 2026-10-12
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