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Syria’s New Rulers Overhaul Economy with Firing ‘Ghost Employees’

A government employee works at a government building in Damascus suburbs, Syria January 8, 2025.REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A government employee works at a government building in Damascus suburbs, Syria January 8, 2025.REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
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Syria’s New Rulers Overhaul Economy with Firing ‘Ghost Employees’

A government employee works at a government building in Damascus suburbs, Syria January 8, 2025.REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A government employee works at a government building in Damascus suburbs, Syria January 8, 2025.REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Syria's new leaders are undertaking a radical overhaul of the country's broken economy, including plans to fire a third of all public sector workers and privatizing state-run companies dominant during half a century of Assad family rule, Reuters reported.
The pace of the declared crackdown on waste and corruption, which has already seen the first layoffs just weeks after opposition fighters toppled Assad on Dec. 8, has triggered protests from government workers, including over fears of a sectarian jobs purge.
Reuters interviewed five ministers in the interim government formed by former opposition group the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). All described the wide scope of plans to shrink the state, including removing numerous "ghost employees" - people who got paid for doing little or nothing during Assad's rule.
Under Assad and his father, Syria was organized as a militarized, state-led economy that favored an inner circle of allies and family members, with members of the family's Alawite sect heavily represented in the public sector.
There is now a major shift to "a competitive free-market economy," Syria's new economy minister, 40-year-old former energy engineer Basil Abdel Hanan, told Reuters. Under transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa, the government will work on privatizing state-run industrial companies, which Hanan said totaled 107 and were mostly loss making. However, he vowed to keep "strategic" energy and transport assets in public hands. He did not provide names of companies to be sold off. Syria's main industries include oil, cement and steel.
Some state companies appeared to exist solely to embezzle resources and would be closed, Finance Minister Mohammad Abazeed said in an interview.
"We expected corruption, but not to this extent," Abazeed said.
Only 900,000 of 1.3 million people on the government payroll actually come to work, Abazeed said, citing a preliminary review.
"This means there are 400,000 ghost names," Abazeed, an energetic 38-year-old, said in his office. "Removing these will save significant resources."
Mohammad Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development who oversees public sector headcount, went further, telling Reuters the state would need between 550,000 and 600,000 workers - less than half the current number.
The goal of the reforms, which also aim to simplify the tax system with an amnesty on penalties, was to remove obstacles and encourage investors to return to Syria, Abazeed said.
"So that their factories within the country can serve as a launchpad" for global exports, said Abazeed, previously an economist at the Al-Shamal private university before serving as a treasury official in the opposition stronghold of Idlib in 2023.
IDLIB MODEL
Until sweeping into Damascus in the lightening offensive that ousted Assad, HTS had ruled Idlib as an opposition breakaway province since 2017, attracting investment and the private sector with less red tape and by clamping down on hard-line religious factions.
The new government hopes for a nationwide increase in foreign and domestic investment to generate new jobs as Syria rebuilds from 14 years of conflict, three ministers told Reuters.
However, to replicate the Idlib model, HTS will have to overcome widespread challenges, not least international sanctions that severely impinge on foreign trade.
Maha Katta, a Senior Resilience and Crisis Response Specialist for Arab States at the International Labor Organization, said the economy was currently in no condition to create enough private jobs.
Restructuring the public sector "makes sense," Katta said, but she questioned whether it should be a top priority for a government that needs first to revive the economy.
"I'm not sure if this is really a wise decision," she said.
While acknowledging the interim leaders' imperative to move fast to get a grip on the country, some critics see the scale and pace of the planned changes as overreach.
"They are talking about a transitional process but they are making decisions as if they were a government that was legitimately installed," said Aron Lund, a fellow at Middle East-focused think-tank Century International.
Transitional president al-Sharaa has promised elections, but said they could take four years to organize.
SHOCK ABSORBED
Economy minister Hanan said economic policy would be designed to manage the fallout of rapid market reforms, to avoid the chaos of recession and unemployment that followed 'shock therapy' imposed in the 1990s on post-Soviet nations in Europe.
"The goal is to balance private sector growth with support for the most vulnerable," Hanan said. The government has announced a 400% increase to state salaries, currently around $25 a month, starting February. It is also cushioning the blow of layoffs with severance, or by asking some workers to stay home while needs are assessed.
"To employees who were hired just to receive a salary, we say: please take your salary and stay home, but let us do our job," said Hussein Al-Khatib, Director of Health Facilities at the Ministry of Health. However, discomfort is already visible. Workers showed Reuters lists circulating in the labor and trade ministries that pared Assad-era employment programs for former soldiers who fought on the government's side in the civil war.
One such veteran, Mohammed, told Reuters he had been laid off on Jan. 23 from his data entry job at the labor ministry and given three months paid leave. He said around 80 other former fighters received the same notice, which he shared with Reuters. In response to Reuters questions the labor ministry said that "due to administrative inefficiencies and disguised unemployment" a number of employees had been placed on three-month paid leave to assess their job status, after which their situation will be reviewed.
The plans spurred protests in January in cities including Daraa in southern Syria, where the rebellion against Assad first erupted in 2011, and Latakia on the coast. Such protests were unthinkable under Assad, who responded to rebellion with repression that sparked the civil war.
Employees at the Daraa Health Directorate held placards declaring "No to arbitrary and unjust dismissal" during a demonstration by some two dozen people.
Adham Abu Al-Alaya, who took part, said he feared losing his job. He supported eradicating ghost employment, but denied he or his colleagues were paid for doing nothing. He was hired in 2016 to manage records and settle utility bills.
"My salary helps me manage basic needs, like bread and yoghurt, just to sustain the household," Abu Al-Alaya said, adding that he also works another job to make end meet.
"If this decision goes through, it will increase unemployment across society, which is something we cannot afford," he said.
MILES OF FILES
Finance Minister Abazeed said that since taking over, the former opposition fighters had found monumental corruption and waste, including at Syrian Trading Establishment, a public consumer goods distributor he said received government money for a decade, until a few days before Assad's departure, without ever providing official statements of revenues.
He did not disclose how much money was involved. Reuters could not verify the allegations.
The new government has closed the company, Abazeed said.
For now, the administration has no reliable record of government employees. It is building a database of public sector staff, asking employees to complete an online form. Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development, said it would take about six months to set up, with a team of 50 people on the job.
Acknowledging the difficulties of the task ahead, Labor Minister Fadi al-Qassem said "renovations are more difficult than new building."
The government also plans to digitize employee records, currently stored in about 60 dusty and neglected rooms containing over a million folders, many tied with string and dating back to the Ottoman era that ended more than a century ago.
To Hiba Baalbaki, 35, a labor ministry digitization specialist, the drive was surprising and encouraging.
Under the previous administration, management shunned her efforts to bring record keeping into the 21st century, including an online platform she had been working on for two years, she said.
"It introduced unwelcome changes and closed avenues for corruption and bribes," she said.

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Tracing the US Military’s Learning Curve on Fighting Iran’s Drones: What to Know

A visitor of an exhibition takes a photo of parts of an Iranian made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Shahed-131/136, which was launched on Ukrainian territories, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 27, 2025. (Reuters)
A visitor of an exhibition takes a photo of parts of an Iranian made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Shahed-131/136, which was launched on Ukrainian territories, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 27, 2025. (Reuters)
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Tracing the US Military’s Learning Curve on Fighting Iran’s Drones: What to Know

A visitor of an exhibition takes a photo of parts of an Iranian made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Shahed-131/136, which was launched on Ukrainian territories, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 27, 2025. (Reuters)
A visitor of an exhibition takes a photo of parts of an Iranian made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Shahed-131/136, which was launched on Ukrainian territories, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 27, 2025. (Reuters)

The Iran war quickly tested America's ability to combat the swarms of cheap drones that have become a staple of the modern battlefield after Ukraine and Russia demonstrated how effective they could be.

Iran launched so many drones across the region at once that some slipped through the defenses, including a strike that killed six US soldiers at an operations center in Kuwait.

Experts and defense leaders stress that the US military has been able to shoot down the majority of Iran’s drones and take out much of its drone capabilities. But critics said too often missiles that cost millions of dollars were used to down small drones that cost tens of thousands.

The US is bringing an anti-drone system to the Middle East that has been tested in Ukraine, which had proposed a deal with the US last year to offer its drone expertise. Such an agreement is yet to be made, and American forces are facing a steep learning curve as they scramble to deploy more cost-efficient defenses against Iran's Shahed drones, which fly low and buzz like mopeds before smashing into their targets.

“We are crushing them — there’s no doubt about it — but if even one drone gets through our defenses and hurts an American, for me, that is enough to warrant fixing the problem,” said drone warfare expert Brett Velicovich, who operated Predator drones in the US Army and co-founded a drone manufacturing company.

Here’s what to know about Iran's drones and efforts by the US to shoot them down:

US says it's attacking the source of Iran's drones

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the number of drones launched by Iran had fallen 83% since the war began on Feb. 28. Iran launched more than 2,000 drones in the days after the initial US and Israeli attacks, other top military officials said.

Caine told reporters that US forces were striking military and industrial targets in Iran “to deny them the ability to continue to generate those one-way attack drones.”

Hundreds — if not thousands — of Patriot missiles have been used by the US and its allies across the Middle East to defend against Iranian missiles and drones. But now the US seems to be relying more on attack helicopters and machine guns as a more cost-effective way to shoot down Iranian drones, experts say, and President Donald Trump suggested as much.

“Now we have low-cost interceptors effectively combating Iranian drones,” the Republican president said Monday.

The military also is bringing in an American anti-drone system proven to work in Ukraine against Russian drones, which are similar to Iran's, The Associated Press has reported. Known as Merops, the system flies drones against drones, fits in the back of a pickup truck and uses artificial intelligence to navigate when electronic communications are jammed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists on Tuesday that his country proposed a deal with the US last year to provide cutting-edge and battle-tested drone technology, including interceptor drones.

“I do not know whether they refused it. I’m not sure, but it was definitely postponed,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine still hopes to sign such a deal.

Experts say the US military has been slow to overhaul its arsenal and tactics to respond to the new threat from fleets of drones.

“This is going to be a big wake-up call for how the US military defends its citizens and fights wars forever,” Velicovich said. “Because it’s sort of like we’re the best military on the planet, but stuff’s still getting by us.”

Travis Metz, the Pentagon’s drone dominance program manager, told senators last week that the Defense Department has committed $1.1 billion to buy drone systems over the next 18 months, including 30,000 small, one-way attack drones to be delivered to military units over the next five months.

US is leaning on knowledge from Ukraine

Pentagon officials have conceded in classified briefings to Congress that they initially struggled to stop the waves of Iranian drones, leaving US service members and allies vulnerable. High-profile targets like a Dubai skyscraper and airports across the region have been struck.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that “thousands of Iranian missiles and drones have been intercepted and vaporized.” But he conceded, “this does not mean we can stop everything.”

Available in big numbers, the Shahed drones have shown their capability to oversaturate air defenses and inflict painful damage. And while the Shahed flies slowly at 180 kph (just over 110 mph), it can range as far as 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) and carry a relatively big load of 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of explosives.

The US military has typically operated complicated reusable drones that fire off missiles and return to base, such as the Predator. But Ukraine has shown that relying on large numbers of cheap drones, which carry their payloads directly into the target and become warheads themselves, can be extremely effective.

“There is going to be a learning curve, but the more that the Ukrainians can provide us in terms of guidance and expertise I think the better off we all are,” said Brandon Blackburn, who is a former CIA targeting officer who conducted counterterrorism operations throughout the Middle East.

Ryan Brobst, a scholar focused on US defense strategy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank, said social media posts by the US military and allies have indicated the use of relatively cheaper weapons, like aircraft machine guns or laser-guided rockets, to destroy drones in Iran.

“The United States has made significant strides in counter-UAS warfare over the past few years,” Brobst said, referring to unmanned aerial systems. “But it’s also true that we can still learn more from Ukraine.”

Looking ahead to focusing on the ‘cheap stuff’

Northwestern University professor William Reno, who researches Ukraine’s military training for the Pentagon and visits the country regularly, noted that Ukraine has found cheap ways to shoot down drones with .50-caliber machine guns mounted in the back of a pickup or other fast-moving drones.

“The long-run effect will probably be that it’s going to focus minds wonderfully on thinking more seriously about cheap stuff that comes through the air,” Reno said.

For decades, US military strategy has counted on dominating the airspace above any conflict it got involved in, but the focus was primarily at higher altitudes where fighters and bombers fly. Now drones will force the military to think about what it does to control low-altitude airspace.

“Ukraine was the wake-up call,” Reno said.

The US military already has some programs centered on inexpensive drones, according to Jerry McGinn, a former Defense Department official who was focused on manufacturing and industrial base policy and is now a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

One of those programs is the Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, which American forces are using in Iran. The US military said in a post on X that the American-made, one-way attack drones were “modeled after Iran’s Shahed drones.”

“It’s not public on how effective they’ve been or how they were used,” McGinn said. “But there’s very much a focus in the US of learning from the experience in Ukraine.”

Features

Kharg Island: Iran’s Vital Oil Hub in the Crosshairs?

This handout image taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows a view of Iran's Kharg Island, which hosts the country's main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world, about 25 kilometers south of the mainland in the north of the Gulf, on March 2, 2026. (AFP / ESA)
This handout image taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows a view of Iran's Kharg Island, which hosts the country's main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world, about 25 kilometers south of the mainland in the north of the Gulf, on March 2, 2026. (AFP / ESA)
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Kharg Island: Iran’s Vital Oil Hub in the Crosshairs?

This handout image taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows a view of Iran's Kharg Island, which hosts the country's main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world, about 25 kilometers south of the mainland in the north of the Gulf, on March 2, 2026. (AFP / ESA)
This handout image taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows a view of Iran's Kharg Island, which hosts the country's main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world, about 25 kilometers south of the mainland in the north of the Gulf, on March 2, 2026. (AFP / ESA)

Kharg Island, a scrubby stretch of land in the northern Gulf, handles almost all of Iran's crude exports and any attempt to seize it would mark a major escalation in the conflict, analysts say.

The US and Israel have so far treaded carefully around the island, but an Axios report over the weekend cited Trump administration officials saying capturing Kharg was on the table as the war in the Middle East persists.

The island, located around 30 kilometers (19 miles) off the Iranian mainland, handles roughly 90 percent of Iran's crude exports, according to a JP Morgan note released Sunday.

Any move on the territory, which is about one-third the size of Manhattan, would have swift repercussions, experts say.

"A direct strike would immediately halt the bulk of Iran's crude exports, likely triggering severe retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz or against regional energy infrastructure," JP Morgan said.

Iranian strikes have all but halted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass -- and have also impacted oil infrastructure in other Gulf states.

But Iranian energy assets have not been degraded so far and targeting the island would be "a very risky move", Farzin Nadimi, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told AFP.

Iran is not only "experienced in using alternatives" in wartime, it could "cause a lot more damage on the Gulf oil and gas installations if they want to and they can do a lot more very quickly, and everybody knows that".

"I don't think that seizing the island will go any further than US Congressional debates," he added -- the prospect having been discussed in Washington since the hostage crisis that started in 1979 during the foundation of the Islamic republic.

Kharg underwent key developments during Iran's oil expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, with much of the country's coast too shallow for supertankers.

Iran has looked to diversify its export capabilities by opening the Jask terminal outside the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint in the Gulf of Oman in 2021, but Kharg remains "a critical vulnerability" for Iran, JP Morgan said.

"It is a cornerstone of Iran's economy and a major source of revenue for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," JP Morgan added, referring to the well-resourced ideological branch of Iran's army.

- 'Very difficult' -

The war has sent oil prices soaring, although US President Donald Trump's suggestion on Monday that the conflict could end soon has calmed the market.

Over the weekend, the director of the White House National Energy Dominance Council Jarrod Agen told Fox News that "what we want to do is get such massive oil reserves in Iran out of the hands of terrorists".

Also in recent days, the Washington Post reported heightened speculation that US ground forces could be being prepared to deploy, citing analysts saying Kharg Island would be an early target.

Nadimi said Washington could move to seize the island when hostilities end, but that it was "not a wise move" during combat when Kharg is "almost an entire island of oil facilities and pipelines and tank farms".

"It is very difficult to wage a military operation on that particular island," he said.

But other oil infrastructure could be in the crosshairs, with Trump repeatedly referencing his operation to topple Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and gain access to the country's oil reserves in January as a blueprint.

Iran -- the fourth-biggest crude producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) -- vowed not one liter of oil would be exported from the Gulf while the war continues.

Any attack on its infrastructure would get an "eye for an eye" response, it said.

On Saturday, Israel launched its first attack of the war on oil facilities in Iran, but it said they were used "to operate military infrastructure".

The same day, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid argued for stronger steps, saying in an X post: "Israel needs to destroy all of Iran's oil fields and energy industry on Kharg Island; that's what will crush Iran's economy and bring down the regime."

Features

Lebanon’s Latest Conflict Brings Rare Public Backlash Against Hezbollah as War Flares Again

Two women look at the sea as boxes of food prepared for Iftar during Ramadan lie on a bench along the Corniche, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Two women look at the sea as boxes of food prepared for Iftar during Ramadan lie on a bench along the Corniche, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 10, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanon’s Latest Conflict Brings Rare Public Backlash Against Hezbollah as War Flares Again

Two women look at the sea as boxes of food prepared for Iftar during Ramadan lie on a bench along the Corniche, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Two women look at the sea as boxes of food prepared for Iftar during Ramadan lie on a bench along the Corniche, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 10, 2026. (Reuters)

The Lebanese mother of two had just awakened to prepare the pre-dawn meal before another day of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan when Israeli warplanes began attacking southern Lebanon in retaliation for rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah.

The family quickly packed up and headed toward Beirut, seeking safety from another deadly war between Israel and Hezbollah. With tens of thousands of others fleeing on that March 2 day, the usually one-hour trip from the southern city of Nabatiyeh took 15 hours.

“I am against giving pretexts to Israel,” said the 45-year-old woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the Hezbollah supporters she lives among.

“I am totally against Hezbollah’s decision to start with the first strike,” said the woman, who is now living with her husband, their 17- and 12-year-old children, and her mother-in-law inside a school turned into a shelter in the Lebanese capital.

As Hezbollah enters a new round of fighting with Israel just 15 months after the last Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a November 2024 US-brokered ceasefire, the Iran-backed group and political party is facing increasing grassroots discontent within its base and problems with the Lebanese authorities.

Population still reeling from the previous war

On March 2, two days after Israel and the US launched attacks on Iran, igniting a war in the Middle East, Hezbollah fired missiles and drones into Israel for the first time in more than a year.

Hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs have fled their homes after Israeli warnings that their neighborhoods, towns and villages would be targeted.

The new round of fighting comes as Shiite communities that suffered the brunt of the last conflict are still reeling from it. The last Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and caused $11 billion in damage, according to the World Bank.

Unlike in the past, when many people were afraid to publicly criticize Hezbollah, some Lebanese Shiites are openly blaming the group for their current misery as they find themselves living in the street, on public squares, or with relatives or friends amid cold weather and fasting during Ramadan.

For Hussein Ali, it was the second time in less than two years that he was forced to leave his house in Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik. During the last Israel-Hezbollah war, the apartment where he lived was destroyed and now the vegetable vendor is worried the same thing will happen again.

“No one wanted this war,” said the man, who is also staying in the school and relying on aid to survive. “People haven’t recovered from the previous war."

Government takes a harsher stance

After the end of Lebanon's civil war in 1990, militias were required to disarm, but Hezbollah was exempted because it was fighting Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon at the time.

Now the Lebanese government has sought to crack down on the group’s armed wing and end its status as a parallel armed force outside of state control.

The shift was clear when, on March 2, the Lebanese government moved to declare Hezbollah’s military activities illegal, with all but two of the 24 Cabinet ministers voting in favor; only the two Hezbollah ministers voted no. Even ministers from Hezbollah’s strongest ally, the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, voted to approve the measure.

“The government confirms that the decision of war and peace is only in the hand of the state,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, adding that the government “orders the immediate ban on all of Hezbollah’s military activities as they are illegal and it should be forced to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state.”

The Lebanese army has since begun to crack down and last week arrested three Hezbollah members who were found transporting weapons at a checkpoint. But the men were released on bail Monday.

Government officials have accused Hezbollah of repeatedly taking unilateral military actions that should be under state authority. On Oct. 8, 2023, the group began attacking Israel a day after the assault led by the Iranian-backed Hamas on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza.

Now, the group has entered the fray on behalf of Iran to avenge the killing of its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, as well as in retaliation, it says, for Israeli violations of the November 2024 ceasefire.

Some Hezbollah supporters see the war as justified

Ali al-Amin, a Lebanese journalist who is a harsh critic of Hezbollah, said that while some people are now criticizing the armed group more than in the past, many still remain quiet out of fear for their safety.

“Criticism could have a high cost and not all people express their opinions,” said al-Amin, a Shiite from south Lebanon, who added that many poor Shiites rely on assistance that could be cut off anytime by Hezbollah or the allied Amal movement.

In the past, people who criticized Hezbollah on social media were sometimes roughed up by its supporters and forced to make new videos saying they were wrong.

But the group still has many supporters. They say that Hezbollah's decision to strike was justified because Israel had not abided by the November 2024 ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out almost daily airstrikes against Hezbollah, which have killed about 400 people, including dozens of civilians, and that have also prevented the reconstruction of destroyed areas.

“We cannot tolerate that anymore,” said Ali Saleh who was displaced from a southern village near Nabatiyeh. “I pray for God to protect our young men and make them victorious against Israel."

Even the Shiite woman who criticized Hezbollah's move to strike first said that if the party hadn't, the result might have been the same.

“If we attack they will attack us and if we don’t attack they would have attacked us,” she said.

Sadek Nabulsi, a political science professor at the Lebanese University whose thinking aligns with Hezbollah, said the latest complaints are nothing new and don’t represent a fissure in grassroots support for the Iranian-allied groups. There was a similar outcry during the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that ended in 2024 and the monthlong war in 2006, he said.

“Hezbollah’s base of support is known for ... tolerating pain,” Nabulsi said. “If you look at this base of support, despite all the harsh conditions, it is still coherent, patient and waiting for salvation.”