Hezbollah operates as both a political party and paramilitary group and is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

It holds a great deal of power in Lebanon in the form of its Shiite political party, which holds 62 seats in the country’s Parliament, alongside its Iran-backed proxy militant unit.

Lebanon is facing its worst economic crisis in history, with triple-digit inflation and a currency that has lost more than 90% of its value since the onset of an economic crisis in 2019. Almost three quarters of the Lebanese people live below the poverty line.