Hezbollah’s reputation in the Middle East has been boosted by Israel’s ground incursions in Lebanon, according to a firm that analyzes millions of posts and articles in the region to gain an understanding of sentiment.
The research underscores the possible risks for Israel of a ground war with the Lebanon-based militant group, which was formed with Iran’s backing in 1982 to fight an Israeli invasion of Lebanon that year.
“Outside of the Shiite communities, Hezbollah has been viewed poorly, more as an agent of chaos than the sharp edge of the resistance,” said Jonathan Teubner, the founder and chief executive of FilterLabs.
But that has been changing with recent events. “By far the most potent issue for Hezbollah,” he said, “is its support for the Palestinians fighting in Gaza.”
FilterLabs, which is based in Massachusetts, uses large language models to analyze local discourse across social media platforms, news media sites and local forums and blogs. It uses language-specific sentiment analyzers to track sentiment toward groups, peoples and events around the world.
Its digital analysis suggests that even as Israel is killing much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, it risks giving the group’s ideology a new lease on life.
“The ground invasion will continue to increase positivity to Hezbollah,” Teubner said. “Considering Hezbollah’s identity in the region is as a counterweight to Israeli aggression, the ground invasion will allow them to cover over their significant negatives.”