Hezbollah

Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim militant group, political party, and social welfare organization in Lebanon. Hezbollah gained prestige among Sunni and Shia Muslims by surviving Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon in 2006. The organization became an unavoidable player in Lebanon's politics while expanding its military and clandestine capabilities. In 2013, Hezbollah faced a high-stakes choice: it decided to support the autocratic regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad against a popular uprising in Syria which escalated into the Syrian Civil War.

Hezbollah traces its roots to a guerrilla force formed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the early 1980s to combat the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. In the years after that, it grew from a shadowy militant organization into a dominant political and military force in the Middle East. In 2005, Hezbollah became a part of a Lebanese coalition government, and in 2011 a Hezbollah alliance chose the prime minister. Hezbollah also played a proxy role in the conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims, particularly through its involvement in the regional and religious struggle between Iran (representing Shiites) and Saudi Arabia (representing Sunnis). It formed a link in the "axis of resistance" from Iran through Syria to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Territory: Bekaa Valley in southern Lebanon and Shia neighborhoods in south Beirut.

Religious Affiliation or Political Orientation: Shiite Muslim.

Founded: Early 1980s with support from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Stated Goal: In 1985, the stated goal was to establish an Islamist republic following the teachings of Iran's religious leadership (Ayatollah Khomeini). In 2009, a revised statement omitted the Islamist goal for a religiously diverse Lebanon and emphasized continual resistance against Israel and its ally, the United States.

Alliances: Iran, Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, Hamas.

Key Events

  • 1983—Truck bomb driven to an American base near Beirut kills 241 marines. Hezbollah carries out similar attacks and high-profile kidnappings throughout the 1980s.
  • 1990—Syrian military stops the civil war in Lebanon and stays in the country to guarantee security. Hezbollah participates in elections from 1992 onward while continuing attacks against Israeli forces through the 1990s.
  • 2005—Syrian military withdraws from Lebanon after Rafik Hariri is assassinated. Anti-Syrian alliance wins parliamentary elections, but Hezbollah is included in a unity government, appointing two cabinet ministers and approving a third.
  • 2006—Israel invades Lebanon after Hezbollah kidnaps two Israeli soldiers. United Nations implements cease-fire. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says it still has 20,000 rockets and is "stronger than ever before."
  • 2008—Hezbollah sends troops into the streets of Beirut, negotiates for veto power within new unity government.
  • 2009—In parliamentary elections, the anti-Syrian March 14 Coalition wins a majority but has to include Hezbollah in the new government.
  • 2011—Hezbollah collapses the government and uses veto power to name a new prime minister, pro-Syrian Najib Mikati.
  • 2013—Mikati resigns, caretaker government steps in. Hezbollah announces its troops are in Syria fighting for the Assad regime during the Syrian Civil War.
  • 2015—Hezbollah launches an ambush against an Israeli military convoy in Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, killing two and wounding seven Israeli soldiers.
  • 2016—Military commander Mustafa Badreddine is killed in an explosion near Damascus International Airport.
  • 2018—Miles of tunnel are discovered in Israel connected to southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is presumed the owner.
  • 2020—Following the death of Quds Force General Qasem Solemaini in a US drone strike, Hezbollah vows revenge.
  • 2021—For the first time since 2006, Hezbollah fires rockets into Israel.
  • 2022—Following the 2022 elections Hezbollah's coalition government loses its parliamentary majority, although Hezbollah retains its own seats in the Lebanese parliament.
  • 2023—Hezbollah exchanges rocket and artillery fire with the Israeli military during the renewed Israel-Hamas war, which begins in October following a series of terrorist attacks in Israeli territory.
  • 2024—Conflict with Israel escalates after Israel begins an offensive into Lebanon in September/October that targeted Hezbollah.

Status

By siding with the Assad regime, calling its struggle "our battle," Hezbollah lost much of its popularity among the Arab world's Sunni majority. In Lebanon, the anti-Syrian March 14 Coalition accused Hezbollah of breaking its promise to defend the nation, instead exposing it to violence from Syria. Elections scheduled for June 2013 were postponed as the caretaker government tried to agree on election ground rules.

The United States designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 1995. By the 2020s a number of other countries, including Israel, the United Kingdom, and Germany had also designated all of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Despite this, Hezbollah remained one of the most powerful political forces in Lebanon during the 2010s and early 2020s, although its allies suffered a setback during the 2022 elections and the Hezbollah-aligned coalition lost its majority. Meanwhile its military arm was involved in a number of major conflicts in the Middle East throughout the 2010s and 2020s, including the Syrian Civil War and the 2023 war between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian political and military organization designated as a terrorist group by the United States, Israel, and a number of other countries. Following widespread aerial operations in September 2024, the Israeli military began a ground offensive in Lebanon in October of that year against Hezbollah.

In-Depth Description

Lebanon has long been plagued by civil conflict. In 1976, Syrian troops entered Lebanon to restore order and continued to occupy most of the country. In 1982, Israel invaded southern Lebanon and did not withdraw until 2000. In response to Israel's invasion, Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which sought to expand the influence of its Shiite Muslim revolution that began with the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, supported Lebanon's Shiites by forming Hezbollah. In the 1980s and 1990s, Hezbollah operated as an insurgent militia, relying on terrorism.

When Syria imposed peace on Lebanon in 1990, Hezbollah began pursuing political activities while fighting the Israeli occupation. Syria, opposing Israel, worked with Hezbollah as an ally. Hezbollah operated with few constraints in Lebanon, where its military was stronger than the national army. Hezbollah also used funding from Iran to provide social services, such as medical clinics, schools, and orphanages, to Lebanon's Shiites, and it controlled a popular television station, radio station, and newspaper, which help the organization compete against Lebanon's other Shiite political group, Amal.

Hezbollah and Politics

Historically, Lebanese politics has been driven by competition between Sunni Muslims (generally aligned with Saudi Arabia) and Christians (split between supporting Syria or Israel/United States). In 2005, when Lebanon's widely popular former prime minister, the pro-Saudi Rafik Hariri, was assassinated, Lebanon's politics turned firmly against Syria, which was implicated in the killing. The ensuing unrest, called the Cedar Revolution, forced the departure of Syrian troops despite counter-demonstrations by Hezbollah. In the following parliamentary elections, an alliance between Hezbollah and Amal called the Resistance and Development Bloc won 35 of the 128 parliamentary seats, making it the second-largest bloc and giving Hezbollah representation in the cabinet for the first time.

In 2006, Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, and Israel responded by invading southern Lebanon, an area from which Hezbollah had long been launching rockets into Israel. The fighting lasted just over a month, and Israel inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah. Public perception, however, was that Hezbollah had fought the Israelis to a standstill—a feat never accomplished before by Lebanese armed forces. Hezbollah gained enormous popularity and political influence beyond the Shiite community.

Hezbollah exercised its political influence in 2007 by blocking the selection of a new president, causing a stalemate that lasted eighteen months. The impasse ended with an agreement that gave Hezbollah veto power over critical government decisions. The 2009 parliamentary elections pitted the Hezbollah alliance (March 9 Coalition) against an alliance of Shiites and Christians (March 14 Coalition) led by Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated former prime minister. The anti-Syrian March 14 Coalition won a majority and formed a new government. In January 2011, Hezbollah forced the collapse of the Saad Hariri government and negotiated to appoint a new prime minister, the pro-Syrian moderate Najib Mikati. Mikati resigned in March 2013, unable to resolve disputes with Hezbollah over appointments to internal security and election commission posts. An interim government took over, paralyzing Lebanon as fighting intensified in Syria.

Hezbollah became politically dominant in 2018, winning most seats in the first election since 2009. The group created a unity government, but the country fell into an economic crisis soon after the election and protests ensued. In 2020, the unity government was dissolved and replaced with a technocratic government. During the 2022 Lebanese elections, held in the wake of widespread protests and anti-government activism following the 2020 Beirut explosion and other crises, Hezbollah held on to its seats but some of its allies lost enough seats for Hezbollah's coalition to lose its parliamentary majority.

Hezbollah and Terrorism

Hezbollah gained notoriety in its early days for terrorist attacks on United States (US) targets, such as the 1983 truck bombing of a Marine Corps barracks near Beirut that killed 241 Marines; the 1983 car bomb attack at the US embassy in Beirut that killed fifty-seven people, including forty Americans; the 1984 US embassy bombing in Beirut; and several kidnappings of US citizens. Hezbollah kidnappings—occasionally conducted under other names, such as the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice Organization—included US Army Colonel William Higgins and Central Intelligence Agency station chief William Buckley; American journalist Terry Anderson; and Terry Waite, special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

There is evidence Hezbollah agents scouted tourist destinations in Cyprus and Thailand, preparing for bomb attacks against Israeli travelers. In July 2012, Cyprus police arrested Hassam Yaakoub, a Swedish citizen born in Lebanon, after tracking his surveillance of Israeli travelers—which flights they took, hotels where they stayed, etc. Under questioning, Yaakoub admitted he was recruited by Hezbollah in 2007 and given months of secret training, which included codes, weapons, and practice missions in Lyons and Amsterdam. Earlier the same year, police in Thailand discovered stockpiles of chemicals used to make bombs when they arrested Hussein Atris, another Lebanese with Swedish citizenship and connections to Hezbollah. About a week after Yaakoub's arrest in Cyprus, a bomb exploded on a hotel bus in the Black Sea resort of Burgas, Bulgaria. Six people were killed, including five Israelis and one Bulgarian, who carried the bomb. Two additional suspects, traveling under Canadian and Australian passports, escaped to Beirut. Prosecutors said they believed Hezbollah was behind the attack but had no tangible evidence of the link. Yaakoub said his Hezbollah training classes included Lebanese residents of Sweden, Canada, and Colombia.

During the first decades of the twenty-first century, some intelligence agencies alleged that Iran recruited members of Hezbollah to staff espionage and operational cells in several European countries. These Hezbollah members were allegedly sent on diplomatic passports to recruit local Muslims and non-Muslims and to determine European targets for future attacks. By some accounts, Hezbollah had at least 1,000 operatives in Germany alone by the early 2020s; additionally, the group had established operations in Africa and the Americas by that time.

Hezbollah has also aided Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the US and numerous other countries, with funding and arms for terrorist activities inside Israel. Three Hezbollah members were arrested in Jordan in 2001, attempting to smuggle rockets into the West Bank. In the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah was accused of aiding Hamas by firing rockets and artillery at Israel.

These rockets fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon prompted the Israeli military to carry out its own strikes against targets in Lebanon, resulting in the largest outbreak of violence between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006. By March 2024, tens of thousands of Israelis as well as tens of thousands of Lebanese people had been displaced, and hundreds had been killed, including nearly 100 civilians. This outbreak of violence also heightened concerns that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would escalate into a wider regional conflict, prompting calls for a ceasefire.

Narco-Terrorist Connections

Hezbollah saw a decrease in financial support from Iran after 2011 as the grip of international sanctions tightened Iran's finances. In response, Hezbollah turned to the drug trade for funding, especially in South America. In February 2011, the administration of US president Barack Obama announced evidence of a global money-laundering apparatus and drug trafficking enterprise that supplies Hezbollah with money. In April 2013, the US Treasury identified two currency-exchange firms in Lebanon that funnel tens of millions of dollars to the organization. In 2010, Mexican authorities arrested Jameel Nasr, described as a Hezbollah operative setting up a drug network with connections in Venezuela and Mexico. In 2011, US authorities charged Ayman Joumaa with smuggling tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and laundering more than $250 million through Spain, West Africa, Lebanon, Venezuela, and Colombia, with a share of the profits going to Hezbollah. Analysts believe Hezbollah receives protection and cash from drug cartels in exchange for assistance in weapons and explosives training and money laundering.

Support for the Assad Regime in Syria

Hezbollah has been drawn steadily into the violence in Syria. In December 2011, Hassan Nasrallah openly declared his support for the Assad regime, which he proclaimed was a "resistance regime." In October 2012, he acknowledged that Hezbollah fighters had died in Syria while on a "jihadist mission." By May 2013, as Syrian government forces pressed their attack against the northern city of Qusayr, news media reported on Hezbollah fighters at the front lines, with about 150 killed in action. These were Hezbollah's first casualties in fighting against fellow Arabs. In a May 25, 2013 speech, Nasrallah went public with Hezbollah's total commitment to the Assad regime. The next day, two rockets hit Hezbollah neighborhoods in south Beirut, foreshadowing a spillover of violence from Syria into Lebanon. Strategically, commitment to Syria was necessary for Hezbollah to avoid losing its conduit of supply and support from Iran.

As pressure on the Assad regime mounted in April and May 2013, Israeli jets attacked targets in Syria to prevent a potential transfer of missiles or chemical weapons to Hezbollah. Hezbollah announced it could retaliate against Israel for future air attacks in Syria. This threat raised speculation that Hezbollah might send drone aircraft loaded with explosives into Israel. Israel has shot down drones launched from southern Lebanon in the past: in October 2012, near a power station in the Negev Desert, and in April 2013, off the coast near Haifa. Hezbollah's drones are relatively small, capable of carrying explosive payloads around 100 pounds. In 2019, the group pulled most of their troops out of the region, citing the success of the Assad regime's military in defeating various anti-Assad factions.

Bibliography

DeLiso, Meredith. "What Is Hezbollah?" ABC News, 11 Oct. 2023, abcnews.go.com/International/hezbollah-lebanese-militant-group/story?id=103864740. Accessed 1 Nov. 2023.

Gritten, David. "Lebanon Election: Hezbollah and Allies Lose Parliamentary Majority" BBC News, 17 May 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-61463884. Accessed 1 Nov. 2023.

Hesterman, Jennifer. "Hezbollah Advises Mexican Cartels?" Counter Terrorist, vol. 6, no. 1, 2013, p. 60-67.

Khashan, Hilal. "Hezbollah's Plans for Lebanon." Middle East Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 2, 2013, p. 81-86.

Nadeen Ebrahim. "Israeli Troops Have Launched a Ground Offensive in Southern Lebanon. Here’s What We Know." CNN, 1 Oct. 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/10/01/middleeast/israel-ground-incursion-lebanon-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

Robinson, Kali. "What Is Hezbollah?" Council on Foreign Relations, 14 Oct. 2023, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hezbollah. Accessed 1 Nov. 2023.