Hezbollah can be defeated despite Iranian regime

Hezbollah can be defeated without toppling the Iranian regime, but only with decisive American leadership, according to Foundation for Defence of Democracies senior fellow Jonathan Conricus.

With the democratically elected Lebanese government making what Conricus called “special” and “unprecedented” statements seeking coexistence with Israel, he said the path forward lay in sustained pressure on Hezbollah through military action, economic warfare, political isolation and information warfare.

“Action is what’s needed. Hezbollah is still powerful, still armed, still has its independent financial and logistic institutions in Lebanon, and still wields significant political power,” Conricus stated, saying ultimately, without the economic infrastructure Hezbollah will crumble.

“There needs to be a coordinated economic warfare plan against Hezbollah. The purpose should be to cut or to disable all of Hezbollah’s economic infrastructure that the Iranians and Hezbollah built inside Lebanon. This is really the oxygen supply of Hezbollah.”

Conricus said this will ensure Hezbollah doesn’t have the ability to run the “state within a state” as it has been doing using Iranian assistance, specifically financial aid.