In Beirut's southern suburbs, the cost of "victory" is devastation.
Destroyed and damaged buildings are everywhere.
Some of the ruins still smoulder and the air is filled with dust that makes the eyes sting.
Few parts of Dahiyeh, Arabic for "the suburb", are untouched, but its residents are outwardly unconcerned.
"Don't look at the rubble. We are victorious because they did not take our weapons and we are still here," Issam Hijazi, whose two shops were destroyed by an air strike on a neighbouring building, told the ABC.
"We will be steadfast like we were before. We had a victory. They didn't achieve what they wanted. So that's why we are victorious."
Hezbollah flags still fly around Dahiyeh and the group's operatives are everywhere, sitting on plastic chairs on street corners and patrolling on scooters.
The locals returning to their homes agree with the group's claims of a "divine victory" against Israel, at least outwardly.
"We are very happy with our great victory because, while they can destroy our homes, at the end of the day it is only stone. We can rebuild stone," 18-year-old Reem Hamoud said, flying a Hezbollah flag from the back of a scooter.
"We are not people who can be easily defeated. We are not the type to kneel. The day has not come when you will see us defeated by the Israelis."
This is the second time Dahiyeh has been smashed, with some residents saying this war with Israel was worse than the month-long conflict in 2006.
"This is nothing new, everything will be compensated," drycleaner Marina Nabulsi said with resignation as she cleaned debris from her shop.
When the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on November 27, residents streamed back into Dahiyeh.
They had been staying in other areas of Beirut since late September, when Israel began an intense bombing campaign targeting Hezbollah leaders and facilities.
Who will pay to rebuild Lebanon?
Dahiyeh is a densely populated district and many of the targets were underneath multi-storey apartment buildings, which now lie in ruins, with the structures around marked by damage from the blast wave and debris.
Many residents returning, including Reem Hamoud, have found their homes are unliveable.
"The house has not collapsed but it is damaged," she said.
"It's not flattened but we cannot live inside. It needs a lot of work. Despite that, we are happy with what we (the Shia) did. This is only stone, we will build it again for the Seyyed (Hassan Nasrallah) and (Shia Imam) Hussein."
Others are quietly questioning who will pay to rebuild Dahiyeh.
Iran has reportedly promised to pay for the reconstruction, but unlike in 2006, Arab states have not committed funding.
States like Saudi Arabia and Qatar had hoped their contributions after 2006 would sway Hezbollah supporters away from the group, but instead Hezbollah consolidated and increased its influence.
This time broader sentiment in Lebanon and the wider region appears to be strongly against the group and, by extension, its Shia Muslim supporters.
Many Lebanese are furious with Hezbollah and blame it for provoking the war against Israel by launching rocket salvos in the days after the October 7 Hamas attacks from Gaza.
Israel's response to the Hezbollah launches, particularly the intense bombardment of Dahiyeh, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, has killed 3,961 people (an unknown number of them Hezbollah fighters) and caused $5.2 billion in physical damage alone, according to the World Bank.
"It's not only Israel that was murdering us, all the Arab states, the US, the Europeans were with them. They were all fighting against the Shia. They are against the Shia community because they are the only obstacle to their project of re-shaping the Middle East," Adnan Harake, a Shia Lebanese whose home in the southern suburbs was destroyed.
"We didn't start a war against Israel, we started a war against the whole world, because if it was only against Israel, Israel wouldn't exist anymore. We started a war against the Americans, against the Arabs, against everybody."
