The recent security incident on the Israel-Lebanon border, which Hezbollah attempted to deny even happened, reflects the terrorist group's decline as a regional player.
Despite receiving substantial support from its Iranian patrons, Hezbollah has lost its luster. Drained by its operatives' fighting to sustain Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in the prolonged civil war, Hezbollah has lost much – but not all – of its military effect, but the real story is its fall from public grace.
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Hezbollah is fast losing the support it once had in the Arab world and particularly in Lebanon, where its political prestige is sustained – barely – by the constant touting of its involvement in fighting the "Zionist regime."
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's standing, however, is at an unprecedented low.
The Shiite terrorist group was once immensely popular among Palestinians and Israeli Arabs alike, and Israel media gave Hezbollah propaganda a wide platform, thus lending it credibility.
This made many in the Arab Israeli sector perceive Nasrallah as the leader of the Arab world – the only one who can stand up to the "evils" of the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
And then came the Arab Spring.
The series of anti-government protests and uprisings that swept through the Arab world in 2011, saw Iran call on Hezbollah to do its bidding, plunging Tehran's largest regional proxy into the bloody civil war in Syria.
The daily fighting did not prevent Hezbollah from tightening its grip on the Lebanese government, to the point where its political opponents now clearly call for it to be stripped of all weapons, in accordance with UN Resolution 1559.
Over the past decade, the support for Hezbollah in the Arab Israeli sector has also waned.
Islamic Movement officials have even taken to referring to Hezbollah, whose name translates into "Party of God," as "Party of the Devil", and Arab parties Balad and Hadash are actively trying to distance themselves from the Shiite terrorist group over its war crimes in Syria.
Hezbollah's decline is encouraging but it must be taken with a sizable grain of salt, as its road to dubious redemption may spell fresh hostilities with Israel.
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