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Attacks in Beirut target new Hezbollah leader Safieddine; Khamenei praises rocket attack

Attacks in Beirut target new Hezbollah leader Safieddine; Khamenei praises rocket attack

Hezbollah’s reputation in the Middle East has been boosted by Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, according to a company that analyzes millions of posts and articles in the region to understand sentiment.

The investigation underscores the potential risks to Israel from a ground war with the Lebanon-based militant group, which was founded in 1982 with support from Iran to combat an Israeli invasion of Lebanon that year.

“Outside Shiite communities, Hezbollah is poorly perceived, more as an agent of chaos than a sharp edge of resistance,” said Jonathan Teubner, founder and chief executive of FilterLabs.

But that has changed with recent events. “By far the biggest problem for Hezbollah,” he said, “is its support for the Palestinians fighting in Gaza.”

Massachusetts-based FilterLabs uses large language models to analyze local discourse on 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.

His digital analysis suggests that even as Israel kills much of Hezbollah’s leadership, it risks breathing new life into the group’s ideology.

“The ground invasion will further increase positive sentiment toward Hezbollah,” Teubner said. “Given that Hezbollah’s identity in the region represents a counterweight to Israeli aggression, the ground invasion will allow it to cover up its key disadvantages.”