Literally the Party of God, Hezbollah was formed by Lebanese Shia’ clerics who had studied in Najaf in Iraq, one of the holiest cities in Shi’a Islam, as a reaction to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. In its 1985 statement, Hezbollah expressed its aims as challenging Israeli and American imperialism, and the aim of creating a single, international Muslim community (ummah). Since 1992, it has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, a cleric. Nasrallah joined Hezbollah after the 1982 Lebanon War. Currently, it is estimated that Hezbollah’s military strength outstrips that of Lebanon’s army. Its infrastructure rivals that of the state of Lebanon itself, with its own TV station and social services, and also deploys fighters beyond its borders, most significantly to support Bashir al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Arguably, Israel would not have withdrawn from Lebanon in 2000 without pressure from Hezbollah.
The name of the grouping was suggested by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, who also despatched a core group of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to provide training. For Iran, Hezbollah held the promise of spreading Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution beyond Iran’s borders. Hezbollah’s core narrative is that Shi’a Muslims need to protect themselves because the Lebanese army is unable to do so, and undeniable that Lebanon – and its Shi’ite population in particular – have suffered due to tensions with Israel.
Due to its military and political weakness, Lebanon has always been at risk of proxy wars, with Western and Arab states manipulating it for their own purposes. Shi’a Muslims in Lebanon have been seen as Iranian proxies dating back to the Ottoman Empire. Lebanon’s peculiar post-colonial politics are designed to balance the power of different social factions, supposedly to balance the influence of Sunni Muslims, Shi’a Muslims, Christians and other groups. These were established after Lebanon liberated itself from French control. This system of governance formalised sectarianism into the heart of Lebanese politics.
In 1982, Israel invaded and occupied the Shi’a heartlands of southern Lebanon which members of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation were using to launch attacks upon Israel, provoked by the attempted assassination of an Israeli ambassador. Following the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinians and Lebanese Shi’as, Israeli citizens soured on the war. The massacres were perpetrated by a right-wing Christian organisation, but its leader had connections to Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency. Israel withdrew in the aftermath of the atrocity, and Shi’a groups, including Hezbollah, began to mobilise in southern Lebanon
Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990, was largely a sectarian conflict between Christians and Muslims, although there were competing loyalties and identifications within both categories. An estimated 120,000 Lebanese died, and almost a million fled the country. The war eventually ended after the signing of the Ta’if Agreement, formulated by the Arab League. Hezbollah only agreed to sign the accord after consultation with clerics in Iran. Amnesties were granted and militia – with the exception of Hezbollah – were disbanded. Hezbollah justified the continued existence of its forces as Islamic resistance against the Israel-sponsored South Lebanese Army.
Hezbollah have denied taking part in the hostage crisis of 1982-1992, during which time over a hundred hostages of over 20 different nationalities were held. However, Imad Mughniyeh, who led the abductions, has been identified as Hezbollah’s second-in-command. Mughniyeh also masterminded the skyjacking of flight 847 in 1985, which was designed to draw attention to the imprisonment and mistreatment of Lebanese citizens in Israeli prisons.
Hezbollah may be the first Islamist organisation to systematically use suicide attacks to achieve its ends. In 1983, the suicide bombing of a US Marine barracks resulted in the loss of around 250 lives. Simultaneously, 58 French paratroopers were killed in a truck laden with explosives. Both the French and American forces had been brought into Lebanon after Israel’s invasion in 1982 – and pulled out in 1984 upon President Reagan’s order.
When the civil war ended, Lebanon finally held elections in 1992. Hezbollah joined the political mainstream of Lebanese society. Ali Khamenei, considered Hezbollah’s official spiritual guide since the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, gave the organisation permission to formally participate in Lebanese politics. This move proved popular with Shi’ite Muslims who had felt disenfranchised and eager to participate in democracy. Hezbollah won eight Shi’ite seats and four via its allies, solidifying on around 10% of the vote – a figure which has remained fairly stable since that time. Hezbollah’s campaigns focus on secular themes, despite its religious identity, and it has forged pragmatic alliances with secularist parties – including those with which it had conflicted in the 1980s.
As with other Shi’a worshippers, the celebration of Ashura – the anniversary – is an event in which Shi’a Muslims participate in an often-bloody ritual despite criticism from senior clerics . For Hezbollah, this shows its strength in the community. Hezbollah also has a provide track record in delivering governance and services to the populace, as well as in liberating Southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s ability to provide community services is underpinned by a culture of volunteerism within the organisation – as well as donations from Lebanese businesses and financial support from Iran. Hezbollah runs schools, hospitals, dispensaries, and microfinance schemes – available to the population, not merely Shi’ites. Importantly, these civil society agencies were able to provide some level of relief to the population during Israel’s attacks upon Shi’a Muslims. This naturally increased support for Hezbollah in the Shi’ite communities. Hezbollah also run their own media: a satellite television station, Al-Manar TV, and a radio station, al-Nour.
In 1999, Ehud Barak was elected prime minister of Israel, promising a military withdrawal from Lebanon. Israel’s withdrawal was closely followed by the eruption of the Second Intifada in Palestine in 2000 – possibly inspired by Hezbollah’s success in resisting Israeli aggression. Hezbollah also trained and supplied Palestinian activity against Israel during this period.
After Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, Hezbollah’s attacks became less popular, due to being less easy to justify as national protection. Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel from this point onwards were sporadic, but could escalate rapidly. In July 2006, Hezbollah captured two Israel soldiers, triggering an Israeli invasion of Lebanon – an event which Lebanese call the Harb Tammuz. More than a thousand Lebanese were killed – mainly Shi’ite Muslims. With superior air power, Israel was able to target Hezbollah’s command centres and infrastructure. Yet, after the Israeli airstrike on Qana in the same year, which killed 28 citizens – 16 of them children – support for Israel evaporated, and the conflict fizzled out.
From 2006, Lebanese protested the US and Saudi-backed Lebanese government, which was headed by Fouad Siniora. Hezbollah headed the protest and hundreds of thousands of people congregated in Beirut from the 1st December. The crowd vowed to remain until Siniora resigned. On the 10th, nearly a million Lebanese joined the anti-government protests. By the 23rd of January 2007, the protests became violent, and participants sabotaged major traffic routes. Eventually, after Hezbollah’s telecommunications network was disrupted, Hezbollah and pro-government Sunni fighters became drawn into military combat. Aggressions were ended when the Emir of Qatar established talks between the parties in May 2008. At these talks the Doha Agreement was drawn up. It established a National Unity government, ending the sit-in which had persisted for two years by this point.
In August 2008, Lebanon’s cabinet unanimously passed a draft policy statement that recognised Hezbollah’s existence as an armed organisation and guaranteed its right to ‘liberate or recover occupied lands.’ Importantly, this includes the Shebaa Farms, disputed territory with Israel and a flashpoint for cross-border tensions. Shebaa Farms is 10 mile square piece of land, which was captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 war.
From 2011, the impacts of the Syrian war spilled over the borders, with Hezbollah fighting in support of Syrian Shi’ites and Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship. The first significant deployment was sent to protect a mosque and mausoleum sacred within Shi’a Islam. Often working with the Iranian Quds force, Hezbollah fighters were widely deployed in Syria in support of al-Assad’s Ba’ath party. The war in Syria also led to a tremendous influx of refugees to Lebanon: over a million in a country with a population of 4.5 million. This increases Lebanon’s problems of a stagnant economy, a fraying infrastructure and a declining tourist trade.
From its position as a vanguard of Muslim resistance against Israel in the mid 2000s, Hezbollah’s status in the Muslim world has crashed, due to its association with terrorism and implications that had been were involved in the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005. Primarily, however, Hezbollah’s close relationship with Iran has become particularly sensitive in the aftermath of the Iraq War, which brought Iraq under increased Shi’a control.
Saudi Arabia’s heavy-handed interventions in the region have particularly dented the group’s reputation in the Arab World. Diatribes against Shi’a Muslims have been widely circulated by Saudi media outlets, and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman claims that Hezbollah are in league with the Houthi rebels in Yemen. In 2013, the European Union designated its armed wing as a terrorist organisation. It has also been designated a terrorist group by the Gulf Cooperation Council and most members of the Arab League. A majority of EU members had considered Hezbollah a legitimate political party until a suicide attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2013 which Hezbollah were implicated altered that position. In the same year, two Sunni mosques in Tripoli, Lebanon, were attacked with car bombs, with a death toll approaching 50 people. The shaikhs associated with the mosques were notably hostile to Hezbollah. Other attacks connected to Hezbollah which targetted Israel and its citizens have been uncovered in India, Thailand, Azerbaijan and Africa.
Hezbollah maintains deep support from an overwhelming majority of Shi’a Lebanese as well as significant numbers of Lebanese Christians, even though its ability to maintain its social infrastructure was hampered by its commitments in fighting in Syria. It remains Lebanon’s most effective political force and pre-eminent military power. In 2015, Hezbollah launched an ambush on an Israeli military convoy in the Shebaa Farms, firing anti-tank missiles. Israel responded with over fifty artillery shells. As of 2017, Israel stated that Hezbollah had an arsenal of nearly 150,000 rockets stationed on the Israel/Lebanon border. It also retains its founding belligerence towards Israel; in fact, at the time of writing, Hezbollah is currently threatening Israel over the maritime borders between the two countries.