By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

In a stark warning that underscores the deepening instability in the Levant, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack cautioned that Hezbollah continues to command a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles, coupled with an army-like force that effectively makes the group the dominant power within Lebanon. Speaking at a security conference in Bahrain this week, Barrack said the Iranian-backed terror organization retains up to 20,000 rockets and missiles and commands a fighting force of approximately 40,000 operatives—a military capability that far exceeds that of the official Lebanese Armed Forces.

As Israel National News reported on Saturday, Barrack’s remarks were both a warning and an indictment of Lebanon’s collapse into what he described as “a failed state,” one whose political, financial, and infrastructural systems have been entirely subsumed by Hezbollah’s influence. “There is no central bank, the banking system has collapsed. There is no electricity; people depend on private generators. Even water and education are provided by private suppliers,” Barrack said. “The state is Hezbollah, which in the south provides water and education.”

The ambassador’s remarks come amid mounting concern in Washington, Jerusalem, and the Gulf capitals over Hezbollah’s entrenchment in southern Lebanon, where it has effectively replaced the Lebanese government. As the Israel National News report noted, Barrack’s statement reflects the growing international consensus that Lebanon’s sovereignty has been hollowed out and that the nation’s economic future depends on neutralizing Hezbollah’s grip on power.

For years, Hezbollah has leveraged its position as both a political party and an armed militia to dominate Lebanon’s institutions and economy. According to the information provided in the Israel National News report, the group’s dual identity—part government entity, part Iranian proxy—has rendered any meaningful reform nearly impossible.

Hezbollah, which was founded in the early 1980s with the support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has long maintained an independent military infrastructure in defiance of United Nations resolutions. Israeli intelligence estimates, consistent with Barrack’s assessment, suggest that Hezbollah possesses tens of thousands of rockets capable of striking deep into Israeli territory, including advanced precision-guided munitions supplied by Tehran.

“The Lebanese state no longer functions independently,” Barrack emphasized. “Hezbollah controls the south militarily and socially, and it dictates policy from Beirut. This is not a government; this is an armed movement disguised as one.”

As Israel National News has documented, Hezbollah’s dominance extends well beyond the battlefield. It operates schools, hospitals, and social welfare programs—funded largely through Iranian subsidies and an extensive network of illicit financial activities, including drug trafficking and smuggling operations across the Middle East, Africa, and South America.

Lebanon’s financial system—once hailed as one of the most dynamic in the Arab world—has imploded under the weight of corruption, mismanagement, and the isolation imposed by Hezbollah’s ties to Tehran. The collapse of the Lebanese pound has wiped out savings, crippled imports, and plunged three-quarters of the population into poverty.

Israel National News reported that Barrack painted a bleak picture of a nation in freefall. “Lebanon is a failed state,” he said plainly. “Its institutions have been hollowed out. The central bank is nonfunctional, its reserves depleted, and its government paralyzed. What remains is Hezbollah—a parallel state operating under Iranian direction.”

According to the information contained in the Israel National News report, the ambassador stressed that Hezbollah’s financial network not only drains Lebanon’s resources but also deters foreign investment. “No investor, whether American, European, or Arab, will pour money into a country where a terrorist organization wields the real power,” he warned.

Despite Lebanon’s dire condition, Barrack’s remarks offered a glimmer of hope—albeit one contingent upon the dismantling of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure. As the Israel National News report highlighted, the ambassador revealed that several Gulf Arab states have privately expressed readiness to invest up to $10 billion in Lebanon, particularly in the southern regions that have suffered most from decades of conflict and neglect.

“The Gulf states are willing to invest heavily in rebuilding Lebanon, but only if Hezbollah disarms and the country distances itself from Iran,” Barrack said. “They will not fund a country that remains under the control of a proxy militia.”

According to the report at Israel National News, the proposed investment package includes plans for an industrial zone and a tourist complex along the Lebanon-Israel border—an area that could serve as a model for economic cooperation if stability were restored. Gulf investors envision southern Lebanon as a potential trade and transit hub, benefiting from its strategic proximity to Israel and the Mediterranean.

However, Barrack cautioned that any disarmament process must be handled delicately. “Forcing Hezbollah to lay down its weapons could ignite civil unrest or even a new internal war,” he warned. “The process must be guided by incentives, not coercion. Yet the status quo—where Hezbollah holds an entire nation hostage—cannot continue.”

The ambassador’s remarks carry significant weight for Israel, which has faced an escalating series of provocations along its northern border. As Israel National News reported, Hezbollah has continued to amass weapons in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Lebanon War and mandated the disarmament of all non-state militias in Lebanon.

Israeli defense officials, speaking to Israel National News, have long warned that Hezbollah’s expanding rocket arsenal represents one of the most immediate threats to national security. In the event of a renewed conflict, the terror group could launch thousands of projectiles per day, targeting Israeli population centers and critical infrastructure.

Barrack’s revelation that Hezbollah still holds between 15,000 and 20,000 missiles—many of them precision-guided— drew attention to the scale of that danger. “Every rocket in Hezbollah’s arsenal is an Iranian weapon pointed at Israel,” one Israeli military analyst told Israel National News. “The only thing preventing all-out war is deterrence—and deterrence is not infinite.”

While Barrack’s call for Hezbollah’s disarmament is widely supported in principle, implementing such a plan remains fraught with peril. As the Israel National News report observed, any move to strip Hezbollah of its weapons would almost certainly provoke violent backlash, not only from the group’s loyal base but also from Iran, which sees Hezbollah as its foremost strategic asset in the Levant.

Still, the ambassador suggested that the alternative—continued paralysis—poses an even greater long-term threat. “Lebanon will either reclaim its sovereignty or cease to exist as a state,” he said. “If Hezbollah continues to rule through fear, corruption, and coercion, Lebanon’s decline will become irreversible.”

Diplomats quoted by Israel National News agreed that incentives such as reconstruction funding, infrastructure development, and integration into regional trade networks could gradually erode Hezbollah’s monopoly on power. However, such measures would require unprecedented international coordination and the political will to confront Iran’s destabilizing role.

In closing, Barrack offered a sobering assessment of Lebanon’s crossroads moment. “This is not just a Lebanese issue,” he said. “It’s a regional one. Hezbollah’s weapons threaten not only Israel but the stability of the entire Middle East. The Gulf states understand this. The question is whether Lebanon itself does.”

As the Israel National News report observed, the ambassador’s remarks encapsulate a stark reality: Lebanon’s future hinges on breaking free from Hezbollah’s grip. Without that, foreign aid, economic recovery, and true sovereignty will remain elusive.

For now, southern Lebanon remains both a flashpoint and a potential frontier—its fate tied to whether a shattered nation can reclaim control from the militants who claim to defend it but have instead brought it to ruin.