BEIRUT — He could not meet face to face because it was too risky. Israel has been targeting him and his comrades with airstrikes and drone attacks that often strike without warning and sometimes kill civilians.
On a 40-minute phone call late Thursday, a Hezbollah field commander who identified himself only by his nom de guerre, Jihad, recounted being wounded when an Israeli missile detonated in the street beside a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs where he had been sheltering. Shrapnel and flying glass injured his arms and legs; two people nearby were killed. He said he was back on his feet the next day. “I have an enemy occupying my land,” he told the interviewer. “Where am I supposed to be?”
Jihad 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 general, though he declined to give a specific title that might identify him. He said he moves between the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah maintains offices, and southern Lebanon, where he commands fighters. “Let’s just say my expertise is those things that fly,” he added with a laugh, referring to the rockets Hezbollah has launched into northern Israel.
He described a recent pattern of escalation: after the United States and Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28, he said, Hezbollah retaliated on March 2 by firing rockets from Lebanon. The group briefly paused operations this week after what it took to be a U.S.-Iran cease-fire that it believed would extend to Lebanon. When Israel indicated it would not honor that pause and then mounted what Jihad called its largest assault on Lebanon since the renewed fighting began, Hezbollah resumed rocket fire.
“We’re fighting an enemy that has the latest weapons, all the technology, but we are holding our ground,” he 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 get a rare look at Hezbollah’s capabilities, its revised command approach and the steps it has taken to try to evade Israeli surveillance. He acknowledged what he called “mistakes” in 2024 that led to the killing of Hezbollah’s then-leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and described how the organization has rearmed since that period.
The United States, Israel and a number of other countries designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The movement also has a political wing: 14 of its lawmakers serve in Lebanon’s parliament. Hezbollah has opposed planned talks in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors, which would be the first official negotiations between the two countries since 1983.
On communications, Jihad said he did not use his own cellphone for the interview. He described a major shift away from modern consumer electronics after a September 2024 Israeli strike in which thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the group exploded, killing dozens. Israeli intelligence agencies have said they ran a long-term operation to embed explosives in batteries sold to Hezbollah through a sham European company.
“Since then, we don’t trust anything anymore,” he said. He now relies on older Motorola walkie-talkies and radio transmitters; some orders and messages are still delivered by handwritten notes carried by couriers on motorbikes.
Organizationally, Jihad said Hezbollah has “gone back to basics” since that attack and since the death of its leader later that month. He said Naim Qassem, a founding member, has taken greater control and shifted the group toward a decentralized command model reminiscent of tactics used by Imad Mughniyeh, a former leader killed in 2008.
Fighters, he said, are divided into semi-autonomous teams that limit communication for security reasons. “One specializes in shooting, another watches the road. Another might even specialize in wrapping sandwiches for the fighters,” he said. “You execute your own specific tasks, with no understanding of what we as a whole are doing.”
He described the change as a move toward professional specialization: members follow courses and qualifications tied to specific roles, he said, and the chain of command is more compartmentalized. He also suggested the organization is both closer to Iran and more tightly segmented under Qassem’s direction.
On weaponry, Jihad denied that Hezbollah had been significantly depleted by the 2024 fighting and said the group rearmed with both imported systems and domestically produced munitions. During the November 2024 cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon — when Lebanon’s army had pledged to disarm Hezbollah in the south — he said the group misled Lebanese soldiers, directing them to old or damaged stockpiles while keeping its true arsenal intact. “They didn’t confiscate anything! We gave them empty boxes, or a few old items to go blow up,” he said.
He suggested arms remained available through Syria despite the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, saying in practice the supply route could still be used to move weapons like Russian-made anti-tank systems. He also said Hezbollah has learned to manufacture more on its own: “These days, on the internet, you can learn how to manufacture anything,” he said, though he would not specify where weapons are produced. Analysts have long pointed to networks of tunnels and underground facilities that Hezbollah uses; some entrances were destroyed by Israel in 2024, but many are believed to remain.
The interview ended abruptly after about 40 minutes. Jihad grew nervous as drones buzzed nearby and warplanes flew low. “We need to change our position,” he said, and then the call ended.