More than thirty years after Hezbollah established the “Lebanese Resistance Brigades” to project a cross-sectarian image of armed resistance, the movement has largely disintegrated, signaling both the decline of the group’s broader influence and the erosion of one of its key outreach tools beyond the Shiite community.

The Brigades were created in the early 1990s as a means of extending Hezbollah’s military framework beyond its Shiite base, allowing young men from other sects, particularly Sunnis, to take part in the fight against Israeli occupation. The move was designed to give the resistance a national character, rather than a purely sectarian one.

Over time, the Brigades spread to Sidon, Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and Tripoli, where Hezbollah built loosely organized Sunni-led cells operating under its financial, ideological, and security supervision. But the experiment began to falter after Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, as the rationale for armed resistance diminished. The Brigades gradually morphed into a domestic political and security instrument; one Hezbollah used to exert pressure or balance power in Sunni areas, often provoking resentment among traditional Sunni leaders who viewed them as an intrusion.

The group’s name resurfaced prominently during the 2013 clashes in Sidon between the Lebanese Army and followers of radical cleric Ahmad al-Assir. The Brigades were accused of having participated in the fighting, allegedly providing cover for Hezbollah against hostile Sunni elements. Since then, they have become a source of enduring tension between Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Sunni street, losing much of the legitimacy the party once sought to cultivate through allied figures.

Today, the “Resistance Brigades” appear to have all but vanished. Following last year’s intense Israeli strikes and Hezbollah’s mounting financial strain, the organization has effectively fallen apart. Local sources in the Bekaa Valley told Nidaa Al-Watan that the number of members has dropped to its lowest levels, with some units disbanding entirely.

“Even those who once bragged about their affiliation now deny any connection,” one source said, adding that Hezbollah has “left them to their fate.”

Public activities by the Brigades have largely ceased. Occasional gatherings in Baalbek and other towns attract small, subdued crowds, reflecting what observers describe as the group’s “clinical death.” Hezbollah itself appears to have curtailed both financial and moral support for the Brigades, redirecting aid to its core members instead. Some former affiliates have accused the party of neglect, saying assistance has become selective and inconsistent.

According to local accounts cited by the newspaper, during last year’s Israeli bombardments, certain Hezbollah officials even took refuge in the homes of Brigade members, placing them at risk and prompting several to distance themselves from the group.

Once touted as a symbol of national unity, the Brigades now exist only in name. Their demise marks not only the end of an experiment in cross-sectarian mobilization, but also a broader contraction of Hezbollah’s influence.