Aaramta, Lebanon — The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah put on a display of some of its previously secret arsenal and fighting power last week, extending a rare invitation to the media to visit one of its training sites in southern Lebanon.

Over the past two decades, the Iran-backed Shia group has risen to become the world’s most heavily armed non-state actor, according to a Center for Strategic and International Studies report.

During a two-hour-long military exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine district, the group showed off a broad range of small arms, light and heavy weapons. Notably, a significant number of anti-tank guided missiles, man-portable air defence systems, and armed and unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles were displayed, according to Armament Research Services, a specialist technical intelligence consultancy.

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said at the event that the display was only “modest”, with many of the group’s more destructive weapons kept out of sight.

Hezbollah was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the end of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war, to fight Israel’s occupation of South Lebanon, which ended with Israeli forces withdrawing in 2000.

Since 2006, when Hezbollah fought a 34-day war with Israel, its military arsenal has been “growing rapidly”, Souhayb Jawar, a Lebanese researcher of Islamist political movements, told Middle East Eye.

The group is now estimated to have a stockpile of 130,000 rockets and missiles, and some 20,000 active fighters and 20,000 reserves at its command. The group also has an extensive network that transports weapons to Syria and Lebanon, mostly via air and ground shipments through Iraq, Jawar said.

While its fighters and weapons largely serve as a deterrent against an Israeli military intervention in Lebanon, Hezbollah is also supportive of Iran’s regional agenda and has played a part in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Hezbollah “has become stronger than any military division in Lebanon”, Jawar said.

The group’s strength is driven by its religious beliefs, a stated objective of defending Lebanon against Israel, and immense financial support from Iran.