On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) stated that Hezbollah can re-arm after the ceasefire deal that was reached that day, but it will take a while if they try to do so because Israel did extensive damage to Hezbollah’s arsenal and Iran’s ability to arm them has been weakened.
Warner said, [relevant remarks begin around 13:05] “Can they re-equip? Yes. I think it will take them an extended period of time. Remember, Hezbollah had been collecting weapons from Iran and others for decades. I think, as information gets out, the Israelis were more effective than I think even we assume in terms of taking out a lot of the Hezbollah arsenal. I also think, leading up to this, the Lebanese people were, frankly, getting pretty darn tired of Hezbollah putting them in harm’s way. And this is why I’m glad we’ve got a ceasefire, because the longer the Israelis stayed in, the longer they could actually unify the Lebanese people against Israel. And I think the ability for Iran to get arms on a kind of business as usual basis, in light of the conflict, both in Lebanon and in Gaza over the last year-plus, actually has been diminished. Will they — could they come back? Yes. Will they come back at near the same military strength in the near term? I do not think that is the expectation. And I also think there may be some breathing room now for the other parts of the Lebanese society who are, quite frankly, getting sick of Hezbollah having so much dominance in their country, to re-emerge, hopefully.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
