Christophe Ayad is a journalist with Le Monde, where he headed the international department. He is the winner of the Albert-London Prize and the author of several books, including Géopolitique de l'Égypte (Éditions Complexe, 2002) and "Géopolitique du Hezbollah", published by PUF in March 2024.
Starting from its sanctuary in Lebanon, the author explores the history and every aspect of the power of Hezbollah ("Party of God" in Arabic), from its close links with its Iranian sponsor to its hold over the Land of the Cedars, its "exemplary role" for other organisations in the Iranian "axis of resistance" (Yemeni Houthis, Iraqi militias, Palestinian Hamas, etc.), its influence over the Syrian regime, its "global tentacles" reaching as far as Asia and South America, and its funding, partly derived from drug trafficking.), its ascendancy over the Syrian regime, its "global tentacles" reaching as far as Asia and South America, and its funding partly derived from drug trafficking.
Our interview, which had been scheduled for a long time, took place on 18 September 2024, the day after Israel's "beeper attack" on numerous members of Hezbollah, followed by the death of its Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, in a bombing in Beirut on 27 September, and by other military operations against the movement's installations in Lebanon.
"HEZBOLLAH HAS LOST THE AGILITY AND SOBRIETY THAT WERE ITS STRENGTH".
Asked on 1 October about these recent developments, Christophe Ayad had this to say:
"By opening hostilities with Israel on 8 October 2023, in solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah was secretly hoping to replay the 2006 scenario and lure Israel into the trap of a difficult war on the ground. But the Hebrew State had been preparing for this confrontation for two decades, in particular by infiltrating Hezbollah's ranks and communications network, updating its organisational chart and implementing a systematic, highly targeted elimination plan.
By becoming an enormous political, economic and military machine, Hezbollah has lost the agility and sobriety that had long been its strength as a guerrilla force. Too big, too heavy to manoeuvre and too busy with tasks that distracted it from its original vocation, the fight against Israel, the organisation has lost its way by becoming a "state above a non-state", which is Lebanon.
In losing Hassan Nasrallah, the Iranian axis of resistance has lost its de facto leader. After the death of the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, killed by an American drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020, it was the secretary general of Hezbollah who took on this role.
With its leadership decimated and its arsenal largely eroded, Hezbollah runs the risk, in the years to come, of retreating into its national role in Lebanon as defender of the Shiites".
