Hezbollah aims to rebuild longer term despite Israeli blows, sources tell Reuters

Hezbollah will likely try to rebuild its stockpiles and forces and pose a long-term threat to the U.S. and its regional allies, four sources briefed on updated U.S. intelligence told Reuters.

U.S. intelligence agencies assessed in recent weeks that Hezbollah, even amid Israel's military campaign, had begun to recruit new fighters and was trying to find ways to rearm through domestic production and by smuggling materials through Syria, said a senior U.S. official, an Israeli official, and two U.S. lawmakers briefed on the intelligence, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It's unclear to what extent those efforts have slowed since last week when Hezbollah and Israel reached a shaky ceasefire, two of the sources said. 

U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Hezbollah is operating with limited firepower. It has lost more than half its weapons stockpiles and thousands of fighters during the conflict with Israel, reducing Tehran's overall military capacity to its lowest point in decades, according to the intelligence.

But Hezbollah has not been destroyed. It still maintains thousands of short-range rockets in Lebanon, and it will try to rebuild using weapons factories in neighboring countries with available transport routes, the sources said.

U.S. officials are concerned about Hezbollah's access to Syria, where Syrian rebels recently launched an offensive to retake government strongholds in Aleppo and Hama.

Washington is trying to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to limit Hezbollah's operations, enlisting other countries in the region to help, a senior U.S. official said.

Hezbollah officials have said the group will continue to function as a "resistance" against Israel, but its secretary general Naim Qassem has not brought up the group's weapons in recent speeches, including after the ceasefire was reached. 

Sources in Lebanon say Hezbollah's priority is rebuilding homes for its constituency after Israeli strikes destroyed swaths of Lebanon's south and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The U.S. National Security Council and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence declined to comment on the updated U.S. intelligence.

Reuters