Hezbollah is preparing for a long war of attrition in southern Lebanon, with a new military command in charge of rocket fire and ground warfare. A new operations room was formed 72 hours after the assassination of the party’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, on 27 September, according to reports by Reuters on Friday, citing two sources it described as “familiar” with its operations.

The new command centre has remained operational despite subsequent Israeli attacks, meaning that fighters in the south are able to fire rockets and fight according to centrally issued orders, according to the sources who asked to remain anonymous.
One of the sources, a senior official close to Hezbollah, remarked that the group is now fighting a war of attrition.
Avraham Levine, an analyst with Israeli think-tank Alma, believes it should be assumed that Hezbollah was “well prepared and waiting” for Israeli troops and that it was no easy target.
He added: “The fact that the chain of command has been damaged does not take away the ability to shoot Israeli communities or try to hit Israeli forces,” describing Hezbollah as “the same powerful terror army we all know.”
A Hezbollah field commander shared that fighters have the flexibility to carry out orders “according to the capabilities of the front” and described the new leadership as “a narrow circle” of direct contact with the field.
He added that the new leadership operates in complete secrecy, without going into further details about its communications or structure.
Another source familiar with Hezbollah operations added: “The group’s dedicated, fixed-line phone network was essential to current communications.” The sources indicated that the network survived attacks on the group’s communications in September.
A statement signed this week by the “operations room of the Islamic Resistance” said that the fighters were resisting incursions and “watching and listening” to Israeli troops where they least expected it, an apparent reference to concealed Hezbollah positions. The statement is the first public acknowledgement of the existence of a new command. However, it did not name its members or say when and in what context it was established.
Before the current war, the World Factbook of the US Central Intelligence Agency confirmed that Hezbollah possesses more than 150,000 rockets and missiles.
Two sources explained that Hezbollah had chosen not to use its most powerful rockets, including precision-guided ones, to have in reserve for a long war and to avoid giving Israel a pretext to expand its strikes on Lebanese infrastructure, such as Beirut Airport, roads and bridges.
According to a third source, the group has not targeted Israeli cities, such as Tel Aviv, with its most potent weapons, because such a move would give Israel a reason to hit Lebanon harder.