South Lebanon votes in municipal elections that will test support for Hezbollah

BEIRUT — Residents of southern Lebanon voted Saturday in the country’s municipal elections that will test support for the Hezbollah terrorist group in the predominantly Shiite areas, months after the end of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Hezbollah is running in an alliance with the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and both are expected to win mayoral races and the majority of seats in municipal councils. Both groups already won many municipalities uncontested.

South Lebanon is the fourth and last district to vote in the elections since May 4. Among those who voted Saturday were Hezbollah members wounded in the Sept. 17, 2024, explosions of thousands of pagers that blew up near-simultaneously in an operation carried out by Israel. More than a dozen were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded.

“The will of life is stronger than death and the will of construction is stronger than destruction,” President Joseph Aoun said during a tour of south Lebanon on Saturday. He told reporters in his hometown of Aaichiyeh that he voted for the first time in 40 years.

Saturday’s vote came two days after Israel’s air force carried out intense airstrikes in different parts of south Lebanon.

Lebanon’s cash-strapped government has been scrambling to secure international funds for the war reconstruction, which the World Bank estimates at over $11 billion.

Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, one day after a deadly Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with strikes in Lebanon that escalated into a full-blown war.