![A group gather in the Dahieh district, known as Hezbollah’s stronghold, carrying Hezbollah and Iranian flags, posters of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to protest a possible U.S. attack on Iran announced by US President Donald Trump in Beirut, Lebanon on January 26, 2026. [Houssam Shbaro - Anadolu Agency]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AA-20260126-40374858-40374852-LEBANON_HOSTS_SOLIDARITY_EVENT_FOR_IRANS_LEADER_AND_PEOPLE.jpg)
During the Twelve-Day War last June, Hezbollah remained conspicuously sidelined while Iran faced the United States and Israel alone. Critics suggested Tehran was deliberately preserving its “crown jewel” for the inevitable future showdown. Tehran did not want to burn its Ace. Now, facing the consequences of past military miscalculations, the Party must strike with all its might, or risk total strategic irrelevance. The dark clouds of conflict over the Middle East are no longer gathering; they are breaking. As the world braces for war with the Islamic Republic, the central question is not whether Hezbollah will join the fray, but how devastatingly it will do so. To view Hezbollah as a mere proxy is to misunderstand the DNA of the […]
