Joshua Scheer
As Washington and Tel Aviv escalate pressure on Lebanon, a senior Hezbollah official is warning that the next phase of the conflict may not be fought only with bombs and drones — but through political coercion designed to fracture Lebanon from within. In a sweeping interview with The Grayzone, Wafiq Safa, one of Hezbollah’s most senior figures, argues that Israel failed to achieve its military objectives in southern Lebanon and is now relying on U.S.-backed efforts to force the disarmament of the resistance through the Lebanese state itself. He warns that such a project would not stabilize the country, but could instead ignite civil conflict while opening the door to deeper Israeli domination of the region.
The interview comes amid intensifying regional tensions, continued Israeli attacks despite ceasefire talks, and growing fears that Lebanon is being pushed toward another catastrophic confrontation. Safa describes a battlefield shaped by asymmetric warfare, drone operations and intelligence battles, insisting that Hezbollah’s resistance has imposed costs on Israel that Israeli leaders refuse to publicly acknowledge. He claims Israel’s inability to destroy Hezbollah militarily has exposed the limits of Israeli power, while revealing what he portrays as the increasingly subordinate role of Washington in Netanyahu’s regional agenda.
In some of the interview’s most explosive remarks, Safa argues that the United States under Donald Trump has placed Israeli interests above those of the American public, saying Trump “turned America into a joke” by allowing Netanyahu to drive U.S. policy deeper into regional war. He points to mounting anger inside the United States over unconditional support for Israel, arguing that more Americans are beginning to question whether Washington’s wars in the Middle East serve U.S. interests at all — or merely the political survival of Netanyahu and the Israeli far right.
Safa also frames the struggle in Lebanon as part of a broader regional confrontation stretching from Gaza to Iran, claiming Hezbollah still views its intervention after October 7 as both justified and necessary. Even after months of war, assassinations, bombardment and internal pressure, he insists the resistance remains committed to preventing permanent Israeli control over southern Lebanon. “Our children are in the trenches, not in hotels,” Safa says at one point, defending Hezbollah’s claim that its leadership shares the same sacrifices demanded of ordinary fighters and civilians.
The interview offers a rare and revealing window into how one of the Middle East’s most powerful armed movements interprets the current balance of power — and why many in the region believe the next stage of the conflict may be decided not only on the battlefield, but through political destabilization, proxy pressure and the dangerous collapse of diplomacy itself.
Hezbollah Leader Warns Lebanon Is Being Pushed Toward Catastrophe
“Israel Failed Militarily. Now Comes the Political War.”
As the Middle East edges closer to a wider regional conflict, a rare and revealing interview with senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa offers a stark look into how one of the region’s most powerful resistance movements sees the current balance of power — and where it believes the next phase of the war is headed.
Speaking with The Grayzone’s Wyatt Reed, Safa paints a picture of a region entering a dangerous new stage: Israel continuing attacks despite ceasefire talks, Lebanon facing immense internal pressure, Iran negotiating under threat, and the United States becoming increasingly entangled in wars that many Americans never voted for and increasingly question. Throughout the interview, Safa repeatedly argues that Israel failed to destroy Hezbollah militarily and is now turning to political destabilization, international pressure and internal Lebanese divisions to achieve what it could not achieve on the battlefield.
The interview arrives at a moment when southern Lebanon remains under constant tension and when fears of a broader war stretching from Gaza to Iran continue to grow. While Western media often portray Hezbollah strictly through the lens of terrorism or geopolitics, Safa presents Hezbollah as a national resistance movement born out of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and sustained by what he describes as a continuing struggle against occupation and regional domination.
The War Israel Could Not Win
One of the interview’s central themes is Safa’s insistence that Hezbollah successfully prevented Israel from accomplishing its strategic goals in Lebanon. According to Safa, Israel entered the war believing it could crush Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, eliminate its leadership capabilities and push deep into Lebanese territory. Instead, he argues, Israeli forces encountered a far more resilient resistance than expected.
Safa repeatedly points to Hezbollah’s evolving drone warfare capabilities — particularly FPV drones — as evidence that the movement adapted faster than Israel anticipated. He claims the drones exposed vulnerabilities within the Israeli military and had both physical and psychological effects on Israeli soldiers. According to Safa, Hezbollah used the war not only to survive but to expand its military experience and technological sophistication.
He also argues that Israel concealed the true scale of military losses and injuries from the public, only acknowledging incidents when evidence became impossible to suppress. Safa describes Hezbollah’s operations as both military and intelligence successes, claiming the group demonstrated an ability to track and target senior Israeli officers in ways that shocked Israeli commanders.
For Safa, victory is not defined by conquering territory or destroying Israel outright, but by preventing Israel from achieving its objectives. He points to the fact that Israel failed to fully occupy southern Lebanon or eliminate Hezbollah’s weapons infrastructure as proof that the resistance prevailed strategically, even amid devastating destruction and casualties.
“Our Children Are in the Trenches”
The interview becomes especially personal when Reed asks Safa about the pager attacks that injured thousands across Lebanon in 2024. Safa confirms that one of his sons was injured in the attacks while another remains on the front lines with no recent communication. Yet rather than using the moment to portray himself as uniquely victimized, Safa emphasizes that Hezbollah leaders’ families fight alongside ordinary members.
“Our children are in the trenches, not in hotels,” he says — a phrase that has already spread widely online following the interview.
The statement reflects one of Hezbollah’s longstanding attempts to distinguish itself from many political elites across the region: presenting its leadership as personally invested in the same sacrifices demanded of fighters and civilians. Safa invokes the sons of Hezbollah leaders who were killed in past conflicts, framing martyrdom and sacrifice as central to the movement’s identity.
Whether one agrees with Hezbollah politically or not, the interview reveals the degree to which the organization continues to frame itself not simply as an armed faction, but as a social and ideological movement deeply embedded within parts of Lebanese society.
America, Israel and the Collapse of Credibility
Perhaps the interview’s most explosive moments come when Safa discusses the United States and Donald Trump.
Safa argues that Trump’s foreign policy has increasingly subordinated American interests to the political needs of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He claims more Americans are beginning to ask whether Washington is acting in its own national interest or simply financing and fighting wars on behalf of Israel’s far-right government.
According to Safa, the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran have exposed a reversal in the traditional U.S.-Israel relationship. Rather than Israel serving as a strategic extension of American power in the region, Safa argues that Netanyahu now manipulates American military and political power for Israel’s own agenda. He points to growing frustration within sections of the U.S. public and political establishment over endless military escalation and unconditional support for Israel despite mounting civilian casualties and regional instability.
In one of the interview’s sharpest lines, Safa says Trump “turned America into a joke” by placing Israeli interests above those of the American people.
The comments tap into a growing debate inside the United States itself, where divisions over Israel, Gaza and U.S. military involvement in the Middle East have become increasingly visible across both political parties.
The Fear of Civil War
The interview also focuses heavily on reports that the United States may support the creation of Lebanese military units tasked specifically with confronting or disarming Hezbollah. Safa warns that any such effort could push Lebanon toward internal collapse.
He insists Hezbollah does not seek conflict with the Lebanese army and emphasizes what the movement calls the “golden equation” of “army, people and resistance.” But he also makes clear that Hezbollah would view any attempt to forcibly dismantle the organization as a direct threat to Lebanon’s stability.
For many Lebanese, the fear of civil war remains deeply traumatic. The country’s devastating civil war from 1975 to 1990 left scars that continue to shape every political calculation. Safa argues that outside pressure to disarm Hezbollah ignores these realities and risks igniting sectarian tensions that could spiral beyond anyone’s control.
At the same time, critics of Hezbollah argue that the movement’s military power itself destabilizes Lebanon by maintaining an armed force stronger than the state. The interview indirectly exposes the core contradiction at the heart of modern Lebanon: a country caught between resistance, sovereignty, foreign intervention and internal fragmentation.
Lebanon as the Front Line
Toward the interview’s conclusion, Safa returns repeatedly to the idea that Hezbollah’s struggle is not only about Lebanon, but about preventing what he describes as a broader Israeli regional project. He references Israeli politicians openly discussing settlement expansion and argues that resistance remains the only force capable of preventing permanent Israeli domination of southern Lebanon.
Whether one sees Hezbollah as a resistance movement, a militia, a political party or a destabilizing regional actor, the interview makes one thing unmistakably clear: the conflict is far from over.
The ceasefires remain fragile. Regional tensions continue escalating. Diplomacy appears increasingly hollow. And millions across Lebanon, Gaza, Israel and the broader Middle East remain trapped between militarized governments, geopolitical power struggles and the growing fear that another catastrophic regional war may only be beginning.
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