In Lebanon's Shia neighborhood there is a fast-growing "Resistance" to sending young men to die in Syria. "Let Iran send its youth to die" is being proposed on the streets.
Even though many Hezbollah neighborhood youth want to avoid Syria and are seeking economic opportunities outside Hezbollah's purview, there frankly are not many jobs available to them, so many still sign up for a two year contract that promises them from $500 to $1200 per month, depending on their experience. Few down and out Shia youth, some as young as 16, have any military experience and survival prospects fighting ISIS aren't significant. But they need money for their families.
One of the many negative consequences for Lebanese Shia, which results from Hezbollah acting as Iran's regional military arm in Syria, Iraq and Yemen is that Hezbollah's budget from Iran increasingly caters to fighters and their families through provision of basic services such as medical care and some monetary compensation. It is claimed by the Financial Times that Hezbollah's monthly payroll includes 80,000 individuals, but as many as 400,000 when family members are included. This number exceeds 25% of Lebanon's population. With evermore financial resources from Iran and Hezbollah being channeled for military needs in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, families of deceased fighters and Hezbollah employees are being asked to accept delay in their benefits until the fighting ends and a recent Hezbollah campaign includes Hezbollah officials visiting Shia businessmen ask them to finance children of Hezbollah wounded 'martyrs'. The results to date have been mixed.
Israel's coming 6th War on Lebanon will surly ignite unpredictable and deadly dynamics for both warring parties and until it's over no one can confidently predict the damage each inflicts on its enemies and sustains from them. Many Israel's army high command are insisting that while the next war will be a painful one for Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, Hezbollah will face a number of deadly surprises and the war will not last long. Hezbollah is making similar claims.
It is doubtful that if Hezbollah neighborhoods are obliterated as Israel has repeatedly claimed that they will be, perhaps in fewer than 36 hours, that Hezbollah's increasingly wayward base will yet again uncritically accept its "Resistance" mantra or its claims to be their protector.
Time will tell whether Israel's 6th war on Lebanon, surely intensifying tensions within Hezbollah's base and Lebanon generally, will result in Hezbollah losing its remaining political legitimacy. And thereby relegating its status to being just another implanted Iranian basij in the region operating under the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
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