Shortly after Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, revealed that Nasrallah’s bunker, located under a hospital in Beirut, held half a billion dollars in cash and gold.

Over the past year and a half, Israel has gone to great efforts to significantly weaken two of its biggest threats; Hezbollah and Hamas. The latest offensive against Hezbollah started on September 17, 2024, when the pagers of Hezbollah commanders exploded simultaneously, resulting in 3,000-4,000 casualties within minutes. A day later, their walkie-talkies blew up too. This was the culmination of a prolonged clandestine operation by Israel’s intelligence agencies. The initial attack was followed by a military operation that has resulted in Hezbollah being pushed away from the border with Israel – where it had previously established considerable force and fired thousands of missiles into Israel since October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’ massacre. 

Having now lost its leadership and most of its arsenal of weapons, especially rockets and precision missiles, Hezbollah – once considered the most powerful terror organisation in the world – has been seriously degraded. In its weakened state, the group has agreed to a ceasefire deal, the terms of which stipulated that the organisation must remain north of the Litani river, some 40 kilometres from the border with Israel, and to cease hostilities. Fighting now happens sporadically. The IDF has largely pulled out of Lebanon, but still holds a small force in strategic locations in the south of the country and carries out limited operations. The Lebanese army, whose abilities have always been much inferior to Hezbollah’s, is meant to help keep armed terrorists out of the region between the Litani river and the border.

Despite Hamas and Hezbollah’s weakened states, the two organisations are attempting to regroup and rebuild as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon enter a lower-intensity phase. Israel cannot allow this to happen. Targeting the groups’ vast funding resources is key to long-term security.