BEIRUT, Lebanon — It was too dangerous to meet in person. Israel has been hunting him and his comrades with airstrikes and drones, often killing civilians alongside fighters.
In a 40‑minute phone call late Thursday, a Hezbollah field commander described how he was wounded in Israel’s heavy bombardment of Beirut a day earlier, which Lebanese authorities say killed more than 350 people. An Israeli missile exploded in the street next to a building in the capital’s southern suburbs where he had been sheltering; flying glass and debris cut his arms and legs, he said. Two people died beside him. The next day he was back on his feet.
“I have an enemy occupying my land,” he said. “Where am I supposed to be?”
He gave only his nom de guerre, Jihad, citing fear Israel would track and kill him. He said he is 62, has served in Hezbollah’s military wing since 2001 and holds a rank he described as the equivalent of a two‑star. He declined to give an exact job title that could identify him. He said he commutes between Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has offices, and southern Lebanon, where he commands troops fighting Israel.
“Let’s just say my expertise is those things that fly,” he laughed, referring to rockets Hezbollah has fired into northern Israel by the thousands.
Jihad described how Hezbollah’s campaign evolved after a U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28 and Hezbollah’s retaliatory rocket fire from Lebanon on March 2. The group briefly halted attacks this week when news of a U.S.–Iran ceasefire suggested to Hezbollah that the halt might extend to Lebanon. After Israel insisted it did not, and then launched what Hezbollah called its biggest assault on Lebanon since the renewed war began, Hezbollah resumed firing rockets.
“We’re fighting an enemy that has the latest weapons, all the technology, but we are holding our ground,” Jihad said. “If you’re skilled, you let him get closer. What kind of nerves do you have, and what kind of steadfastness? That’s where the battle happens.”
NPR spoke with Jihad to gain a rare look at the militia’s capabilities, its revised command structure and new tactics to evade Israeli surveillance. He acknowledged “mistakes” his group made in 2024 that led to Israel killing Hezbollah’s then‑leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and described how the organization has rearmed since.
The United States, Israel and many other countries consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The group has both military and political wings; 14 of its lawmakers serve in Lebanon’s parliament. Hezbollah has said it opposes planned talks in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors, the first official negotiations between the two countries since 1983.
Passing notes on the battlefield
Jihad did not use his own phone for the interview. Since a September 2024 Israeli operation in which thousands of pagers and walkie‑talkies used by Hezbollah exploded, killing dozens, the group has largely abandoned modern consumer electronics on the battlefield. Israeli agents have described a long scheme to embed explosives in batteries sold to the group by a fake company in Europe.
“After that, we don’t trust anything anymore,” Jihad said. He relies on old‑fashioned walkie‑talkies—older Motorola devices and simple radio transmitters—and said some battlefield orders now travel via handwritten notes carried by couriers on motorbikes.
Hezbollah has a new org chart
Jihad said Hezbollah returned to basics after the pager attack and the killing of Nasrallah. Naim Qassem, another founding member, has replaced Nasrallah and “changed the whole approach,” Jihad said. Qassem adopted a decentralized command structure first associated with Imad Mughniyeh, a leader killed in 2008, splitting fighters into semi‑autonomous units that minimize communication to reduce the risk of detection.
“One specializes in shooting, another watches the road. Another might even specialize in wrapping sandwiches,” he said. “You execute your own specific tasks, with no understanding of what we as a whole are doing.”
He compared the structure to professional specialization: different tracks, courses and qualifications depending on the role a fighter follows. He also said the group is both closer to Iran and more compartmentalized under Qassem’s approach.
How Hezbollah rearmed after 2024
The recent fighting reignited a conflict that was supposed to have paused under a November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, in which Lebanon’s Army promised to disarm Hezbollah in the south. The U.N. and others say Israel violated that ceasefire thousands of times between late 2024 and early this year with continued airstrikes that killed civilians. While Hezbollah largely held its fire during that period, Jihad insisted the group never truly disarmed.
“We pointed Lebanese soldiers to disused, defunct or damaged old stockpiles we no longer needed, and let them confiscate those,” he said. “They didn’t confiscate anything! We gave them empty boxes, or a few old items to go blow up.”
He said Hezbollah’s arsenal was not as depleted as Israel believed and that the group has rearmed with a mix of imported and domestically manufactured weapons. “These days, on the internet, you can learn how to manufacture anything,” he said. He would not say where weapons are assembled but noted Hezbollah operates networks of underground tunnels and caverns; some entrances were destroyed in 2024 but experts say many remain.
Hezbollah traditionally relied on arms from Iran via Syria. After the fall of Syrian President Bashar al‑Assad in December 2024, Qassem warned the supply route was severed. Jihad said that was not the case. “There’s nothing that can’t be smuggled through Syria — Kornets, Konkurs,” he said, naming Russian anti‑tank weapons.
An abrupt ending
After 40 minutes, Jihad said he had to go. He sounded nervous; NPR could hear Israeli drones buzzing and warplanes flying low in the background.
“We need to change our position,” he said.
Then he hung up.