A year after losing its longtime leader, Hezbollah is beginning to regroup

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah suffered one blow after another during its most recent war with Israel, culminating in the killing of the militant group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in massive Israeli airstrikes on a Beirut suburb.

The group was weakened militarily and politically. Many of its opponents declared that its days as a dominant regional and local player were over.

But one year later, many of Hezbollah’s supporters, enemies and analysts agree in their assessment: It is regrouping.

“The loss of this leader was a very painful blow to Hezbollah,” a senior Hezbollah political official Mohammed Fneish told The Associated Press in the run-up to Saturday’s anniversary of Nasrallah’s death.

“However, Hezbollah is not a party in the usual sense that when it loses its leader, the part