Kuwait’s recent decision to place eight Lebanese hospitals on its national terrorism watchlist has cast a spotlight on Hezbollah’s extensive health infrastructure, revealing how the group has built a parallel institutional network that rivals its political and military operations, according to a report by Nidaa Al-Watan on Monday.

From its earliest days, Hezbollah has deliberately established institutions independent of the Lebanese state. After building its military and security apparatus, the group expanded into economic and social sectors, with healthcare emerging as a particularly strategic focus. This network allows Hezbollah to embed itself within state systems while leveraging public resources to fund and strengthen its own operations.

A study by Umam for Documentation and Research traces decades of the organization’s growth, highlighting a phenomenon long observed by political researcher Abbas Hadla but rarely discussed publicly. Kuwait’s blacklisting underscores how Hezbollah has transformed healthcare into a cornerstone of its broader strategy to maintain a quasi-state structure, often referred to by analysts as the “Islamic Resistance State” in Lebanon.

Key Institutions

Martyr Foundation: Founded in 1982 as the “Martyr of the Islamic Revolution Foundation – Lebanon Branch” under the guidance of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, the foundation received an official Lebanese license in 1988 and public benefit recognition in 1994. It has historically received support from Lebanese ministries and UN agencies.

Imam Khomeini Relief Committee: Established in Lebanon in 1988 to “support the deprived” and back resistance against the “global arrogance and the Maronite-Zionist system,” the committee gained official recognition the same year and public benefit status in 1994.

Islamic Health Organization: Hezbollah’s primary healthcare arm, formally licensed in 1984, operates around 70 clinics across predominantly Shiite regions, providing services ranging from primary care to emergency response and civil defense. Its hospitals include:

• Martyr Salah Ghandour Hospital, Bint Jbeil

• Al-Batoul Hospital, Hermel

• Sheikh Ragheb Harb Hospital, Nabatieh

• Dar Al-Hikma – Imam Al-Mujtaba, Baalbek

• Jwaya Care Hospital, Jwaya

• Al-Shifa Specialized Hospital, Khaldeh

• Al-Rassoul Al-Azam Hospital, Beirut

Founded on November 4, 1988, Al-Rassoul Al-Azam serves both Hezbollah fighters and local civilians, including families of casualties. In May 2025, Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine inaugurated expanded facilities, adding ICUs, neonatal units, four operating rooms, and a pharmacy.

With patient numbers rising due to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria, the organization also acquired Saint George Hospital in Hadath, converting a financially struggling facility into an additional healthcare center. Efforts by rival institutions and local municipalities to block the acquisition ultimately failed.

State Resources and Funding

Hezbollah has relied heavily on the Ministry of Health’s budget to support its network. Following the August 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion, Al-Rassoul Al-Azam received 14.7 billion LBP (an increase of 5.5 billion LBP over previous years) even though it sustained no damage. By contrast, heavily damaged hospitals such as the American University of Beirut Medical Center, Saint George, and Hotel Dieu received no budget increase, remaining at 16.4 billion LBP.

Other Hezbollah-affiliated clinics, including Dar Al-Zahraa, Dar Al-Kazem, Imdad, and Sayyida Zainab Medical Center, also received combined funding increases of 3 billion LBP compared to 2016, operating exclusively in Hezbollah strongholds.

Even after Lebanon’s central bank froze the accounts of the Martyr Foundation, Al-Rassoul Al-Azam, and the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee in 2016 under U.S. sanctions, these organizations continued to receive public funds through government ministries. This system mirrors the cash payments received by Hezbollah MPs outside the formal banking system.

Today, the Ministry of Health— Lebanon's largest ministry by budget, with approximately $480 million in 2025, up from $445 million in 2024—has become a vital vehicle for sustaining Hezbollah’s health network. This dependence has grown especially after the collapse of smuggling routes following Bashar al-Assad’s weakening regime. Hezbollah also leveraged religious pilgrimage routes to Syria and Iraq to transport medical supplies, but as these routes diminished, reliance on state funding increased, deepening the group’s strategic attachment to the health ministry.