Iran’s military aid to Hezbollah’s rehabilitation

Professional IRGC officers and experts in various fields are physically present in Lebanon and closely accompany and mentor Hezbollah. This involvement includes efforts to transfer weapons and cash, as well as overseeing investigation teams and evaluations of Hezbollah’s military, intelligence and security performance during the war and the reasons for its failure.

In addition, it appears that the IRGC are helping Hezbollah to adjust and make changes in the structure of the organization and its economic institutions in order to reduce expenses and streamline its conduct. We also assume that the IRGC will also assist in the training and instruction of new recruits to Hezbollah, with an emphasis on the combat units (such as the Radwan unit and Naser and Aziz geographical units) that lost many operatives, both regular and reserve.

It is estimated that about 4,000 Hezbollah operatives were killed during the war and thousands more were injured. Overall, an estimated 15–20% of Hezbollah’s 100,000-strong regular and reserve forces were injured (killed and wounded).

Hezbollah’s military rehabilitation efforts, which are expected to cost a lot of money and last several years, are likely to involve many IRGC units, especially from the Quds Force.
These will include logistics, technology, and training units.

We believe that the commander of the Syria-Lebanon Corps (18000) of the Quds Force will head and coordinate these efforts. At the time of writing, it is not clear who replaced Abbas Nilforoushan who was eliminated along with Nasrallah on September 27, 2024. Recent reports suggest Jawad Ghafari, who previously commanded this corps, was called back in to fill this position, but we cannot confirm this.

Division 8000 – This division, headed by Hassan Habibi, is responsible for weapons production as well as for training and integration of weapon systems among Iranian-backed organizations and militias. The division oversees specialized units, each with a specific specialization, such as UAVs (8050 and 8090), missiles and rockets (8020), naval activity (8030), air defense (8040), and more.

Division 8000 and its subordinate units are known to cooperate with Iranian institutions and companies in the field of weapons in order to develop and improve capabilities and combat equipment.

It is reasonable to assume that the operatives of these units will work alongside operatives from the parallel units in Hezbollah’s strategic arrays, such as Unit 127 (UAVs), air defense, anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles, units related to naval activity, and more.

Unit 2250 –

The logistics division that operated in Syria under the Quds Force and alongside the Syria-Lebanon Corps (18000) and Hezbollah. Various publications also refer to the unit as the “Lebanon Aid Bureau”. This unit is responsible for coordinating shipments of weapons, personnel, money and equipment coming from Iran, as well as storing and transferring them to Hezbollah. Until the fall of the Assad regime most of the unit’s activity was carried out using the land corridor, but also via the air and sea routes, through the various air and sea ports in Syria.

In its capacity, the unit operates in cooperation with several units in Iran and Lebanon, the most prominent of which are Division 8000 and Unit 190 of the Quds Force, as well as Hezbollah’s unit 4400. The unit has bases and offices scattered throughout Tehran and Beirut (and until the fall of the Assad regime, also in a number of cities in Syria).

In December 2023, Razi Mousavi, who headed the unit, was eliminated in an attack in Damascus attributed to Israel. In addition, according to various reports, several of the unit’s operatives and facilities were targeted in attacks attributed to Israel in recent years.

Unit 340 –

A research and development unit that operates a number of facilities throughout Iran and collaborates with universities and the countries’ weapons industries. Among its activities, the unit is involved in developing UAVs as well as in the development and improvement of rockets and missiles. Another field in which the unit operates is training, instruction and providing technical assistance in the production, assembly and use of these weapons for various militias and organizations. These trainings take place mostly in Iran, but the unit’s operatives also operate in the countries throughout the region, assisting in the establishment of local production and assembly infrastructures. It is known that the unit’s operatives operated in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon and elsewhere. In addition, the unit trained Hamas and Islamic Jihad personnel on Iranian soil.

To our assessments, as part of the Iranian aid to Hezbollah before the “Iron Swords” war, the unit’s experts operated in CERS’s research centers in Syria, alongside Hezbollah’s Unit 1600 (also known as “Al-Hadi”), as well as in a number of sites in Lebanon itself. During the war, a number of sites related to the unit’s activity in these countries were attacked and a number of officers from the unit were killed.

The unit’s commander is Hamid Fazeli, also known as Mohsen Kafi. Fazeli, who holds a doctorate in engineering and previously headed the Iranian Space Agency (ISA), is subject to Western sanctions.

Most of the unit’s personnel are professionals in the fields of engineering, mechanics, chemistry, aeronautics, etc., and most of them hold officer ranks.

Unit 190 –

The unit responsible for smuggling weapons, equipment, money and manpower around the world. The unit’s operatives most likely also operate as part of Iran’s oil smuggling network. The weapons transferred by the unit include a wide range from light weapons, machine guns and explosives to UAVs, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and air defense systems.

In its capacity, the unit works closely with Division 8000 and Unit 700 in the Quds Force (see below) and Hezbollah’s Unit 4400. The information available today indicates that its commander is Behnam Shahriari, also known by other names such as Hamid Reza and Seyed Ali Akbar. Shahriari is subject to sanctions by the West.

The unit operates by various means intended to conceal the smuggled weapons as well as the connection to Iran. These include, among other things, the use of front companies, civilian infrastructures, the use of a third party, false registrations and more. The smuggling routes are diverse and are carried out via air, sea and land. In recent years, the unit has worked to transfer weapons to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, terrorist organizations in Gaza and the West Bank, the Western Sahara, Sudan, the Horn of Africa, and more.

Unit 700 – Similar to Unit 190, Unit 700 is also involved in the transfer of weapons and logistical equipment for the Quds Force and the organizations operating with Iranian support. The unit works in cooperation with Unit 190 of the Quds Force and with Hezbollah’s Unit 4400 and is considered to have connections with senior government officials in Iraq, Lebanon and other countries. Various publications indicate that its commander is Gal Farsat.

In the past, it has been claimed that the unit used the earthquake that struck northern Syria in 2023 in order to smuggle weapons, equipment and personnel to Syria and Lebanon under the guise of humanitarian aid.

Iran’s exploitation of humanitarian crises to further its military goals is a well-established practice, and they are currently employing it in Lebanon.

Unit 300 –

A unit specializing in offensive cyber operations and electronic warfare. The unit’s commander is apparently Amir Lashgarian (also known as Ebrahim Ghazizadeh). Unit 300 is tasked with developing capabilities in the aforementioned fields as well as carrying out intelligence operations and cyber-attacks on state infrastructures (see the Albania case), companies or individuals. Among other things, the unit has developed surveillance, tracking and hacking capabilities alongside the development of electronic warfare capabilities. In addition to all these, the unit’s operatives assist Iranian-backed organizations in intelligence gathering and technological surveillance and the operation of electronic warfare systems, as well as in training and instruction in these fields.

Source » israelnationalnews