Officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have effectively taken charge of Hezbollah in anticipation of a war with the US and Israel, Saudi outlet Al-Arabiya reported Saturday, as Lebanese officials were said to assail the possibility of their country getting dragged into battle.

The IRGC officers, some of whom recently arrived in Lebanon from Iran, are tasked with rebuilding Hezbollah’s military capabilities, which were significantly degraded in the 14-month fighting with Israel that ended with a November 2024 truce, Al-Arabiya said, citing sources close to Hezbollah.

The Iranian officers have also been personally briefing Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon, said the unnamed sources cited by Al-Arabiya. They added that IRGC officers were meeting with members of Hezbollah’s missile unit at a site in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley that was bombed by Israel overnight, amid a wave of airstrikes that wounded at least 50 people and killed 12, including a senior Hezbollah officer. The IDF said the strikes targeted Hamas and Hezbollah command centers.

According to the Hezbollah-aligned sources, a wider Israeli military offensive against Lebanon is only a matter of time.

The report came as US President Donald Trump has amassed military forces in the region and repeatedly threatened to use them against Iran, first over the Islamic Republic’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters last month and more recently over its nuclear program.

Israel is preparing to fight alongside the US and expects to be targeted by Iran if the US strikes there, according to Hebrew media.

Channel 12 news reported Saturday that Trump was leaning toward attacking Iran, but had agreed to a request from his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to give Iran another day or two to submit a proposal in the indirect US-Iran nuclear negotiations that commenced earlier this month.

An unnamed US official was quoted by the network saying that the 10- to 15-day deadline Trump gave Iran on Thursday was “not scientific.”

Trump has demanded Iran give up entirely on its nuclear enrichment program, but is reportedly open to letting the Islamic Republic preserve some “token” enrichment capabilities.

Speaking to pro-Iran demonstrators in Lebanon last month, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the terrorist group would not be neutral if the US struck Iran, but stopped short of explicitly threatening Israel.

Meanwhile, the Ynet news site said in an unsourced report this week that Iran was pressuring Hezbollah to fight alongside it in the event of a war with Israel. The report also said the IDF had prepared a plan to “significantly strike” Hezbollah and had conveyed to it “that if it decides to intervene, this time the blow will be very painful.”

On Saturday, anti-Hezbollah Lebanese outlet Nidaa al-Watan cited “prominent political sources” in the country as saying Beirut must declare its neutrality in case of a US-Iran war, and refuse to let Hezbollah drag Lebanon into war with Israel.

“Hezbollah thought it could confuse Israel and the US by saying it would not be neutral if Iran were struck, so Israel responded by saying that as soon as it’s informed by Washington of the zero hour, it will preemptively strike Hezbollah. Israel won’t let Hezbollah have the initiative,” Nidaa al-Watan quoted its sources as saying. “Hezbollah will drag Lebanon into this war.”

Hezbollah, previously a formidable force in Lebanon’s government, has been politically sidelined with the accession in January 2025 of Lebanon’s US- and Saudi-backed President Joseph Aoun, a former army chief who has vowed to uphold a state monopoly on arms — a thinly veiled threat against Hezbollah’s extensive arsenal.

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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC

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