In Lebanon, Iran embedded a proxy force to provide security and social services to the Shi’a community above and beyond the capacity of the Lebanese government, securing loyalty of large swathes of this constituency to Iran and Hezbollah rather than the Lebanese state. Hezbollah’s maintenance of a terrorist militia and operation of parallel state structures has eroded Lebanese sovereignty, further destabilizing the weak centralized government and enabling Iran to become the dominant power in Lebanon. The Middle East is a region replete with weak and failing states. Having established the blueprint for destabilization and domination in Lebanon, Iran has sought to replicate the “Hezbollah model” throughout the Middle East with varying degrees of success.