Welcome back to Hezbollah’s Hostages, the weekly animated video series in which brave opponents of the terror group speak out. So far, we’ve heard from a Lebanese man who deserted Hezbollah on the battlefield and another who braved death for peace with Israel. We’ve also told the stories of Syrians who’ve escaped Hezbollah-run cartels of sex slavery and drugs.
The subject of our fifth episode is not a person. Instead, we take you on a tour of a place called Dahiyeh on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. Dahiyeh means suburb in Arabic, but it is also known as Hezbollahland. There, the terror group—a proxy of Iran—uses Dahiyeh as a nerve center to impose its policies on the Lebanese people and inflict terror on the region and beyond.
When Hezbollah’s critics accuse the group of operating a “state within a state,” they are referring to Dahiyeh, one of the most terrifying suburbs in the world.
In Dahiyeh, Hezbollah operates a spy service, a military command center, and a prison system. Hezbollah also runs a massive propaganda machine, known as the “Iranian Media City.” On dozens of channels across the region, it broadcasts a round-the-clock call to war from Hezbollah and Iran’s other proxies, such as Hamas and the Houthis.
One year after the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel, it will be no surprise to learn that beneath Hezbollahland is a city teeming with tunnels, missiles, and munitions.
At the same time, Dahiyeh is a land of haves and have-nots, where the rich Hezbollah elite live alongside an impoverished Shiite majority who owe no loyalty to the terror group. This restive population, which protested Hezbollah rule in 2019, faces even worse conditions now as Israel intensifies its targeting of Hezbollah sites in Dahiyeh. At this moment, the resurgence of civil opposition against Hezbollah could play a fateful role in upending Iran’s domination in Arab lands.
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