© Copyright 2002
CCFL Hizballah (Party of God) a.k.a.
Islamic Jihad, Islamic Jihad Organization, Revolutionary Justice
Organization, Organization of the Oppressed on Earth, Islamic Jihad
for the Liberation of Palestine, Organization of Right Against
Wrong, Ansar Allah, Followers of the Prophet Muhammed
Description: Radical Shia group formed in
Lebanon; dedicated to creation of Iranian-style Islamic republic
in Lebanon and removal of all non-Islamic influences from the
area. Strongly anti-West and anti-Israel. Closely allied with, and
often directed by, Iran but may have conducted operations that
were not approved by Tehran.
Activities: Known or suspected to have been involved in
numerous anti-US terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck
bombing of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut in
October 1983 and the US Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984.
Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and
detention of US and other Western hostages in Lebanon. The group
also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992.
Strength: Several thousand.
Location/Area of Operation: Operates in the Bekaa
Valley, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon. Has
established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America,
and elsewhere.
External Aid: Receives substantial amounts of financial,
training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and
organizational aid from Iran and Syria.
Released by the Office of the Coordinator
for Counterterrorism
October 8, 1999
U.S. Department of State.
HEZBOLLAH
Hezbollah (Arabic حزب الله, meaning Party of
God) is regarded by the Arab and Muslim world, and by some
European Union countries, as a legitimate, militant, Shia political party in Lebanon, and by the Israeli government and
some Western governments as an Islamic fundamentalist, or Islamist,
terrorist organization.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage recently called Hezbollah
the "A-team" of terrorism and Al Qaeda the "B-team." See this November 12 2004 New Yorker article on
Hezbollah. Supporters of the group regard this kind of
statement as typical anti-Arab American and Israeli propaganda.
The organization was conceived in 1982 as a guerrilla group,
initiated by Lebanese clerics and financed by Iran, to oppose the 1982 Israeli invasion and subsequent occupation
of southern Lebanon. The group's critics believe it was set up by
Iran solely to spread the Iranian Islamic revolution into Lebanon and
throughout the Arab world. It maintains an active fighting force, or
militia, known as the Islamic Resistance. Since the May 2000 Israeli
withdrawal from Lebanon, Hezbollah has continued fighting the Israeli Defense Forces around the disputed,
Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms area. Although the United Nations regards Shebaa Farms as
Syrian territory, Hezbollah considers the area a part of
Lebanon.
In addition to its military wing, Hezbollah maintains a civilian
arm, which runs hospitals, schools, orphanages and a television
station. Hezbollah currently holds eight seats in the 128-member
Lebanese Parliament and is primarily active in the Bekaa Valley, the
southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon. The group is
headed by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and is financed largely by
Iran and Syria, though it also raises funds itself through charities
and commercial activities.
Designations
The group's designation by some governments as "terrorist" is
controversial.
Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organization in the United
States, Canada and the UK, with the U.S. State Department alleging
that Hezbollah is responsible for the deaths of over 300 American
citizens. The European Union has designated Hezbollah's so-called
External Security Organization or international wing as "terrorist,"
thereby affording legitimacy to the group's political wing. The
group is not banned in Australia, but it is a criminal offence there
to fund it. The United Nations has not included Hezbollah on its
list of terrorist groups.
Hezbollah has denounced some acts of terror, like the September 11 attackshttp://cfrterrorism.org/groups/hezbollah2.html
and the murder of Nick Berghttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3710057.stm.
However, as a stated aim of Hezbollah is the destruction of the
state of Israel, it expresses support http://www.unb.ca/web/bruns/9900/issue14/intnews/israel.html
for the activities of Hamas, an Islamist group responsible for
suicide attacks inside the Arab-Israeli disputed territories, as
well as inside Israel itself: acts that many consider terroristic in
nature, while others argue they are legitimate paramilitary moves
against an occupier.
Most of Hezbollah's attacks have been aimed at what the group
regards as Israeli military targets. However, using names like the
Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice
Organization, Hezbollah is also believed by the United States to
have kidnapped and murdered U.S. Army colonel William Higgins and
the CIA Station Chief in Beirut, William Buckley, and to have kidnapped
around 30 other Westerners between 1982 and 1992, including the
American journalist Terry Anderson, British journalist John McCarthy, the Archbishop of
Canterbury's special envoy Terry Waite and Irish citizen Brian Keenan.
Hezbollah was also implicated in the suicide truck bombings that
killed 241 U.S. Marines in their barracks in Beirut in 1983; the
1984 truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 24; the
1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to
Rome; the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, which
killed 29; and the 1994 bombing in Argentina of a Jewish community
center, which killed 95. Hezbollah denies involvement in some or all
of these attacks, but its supporters would anyway argue that any
Israeli target is a legitimate one, as are American targets so long
as America supports Israel financially and militarily.
Hezbollah's role in the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon
gained the organization widespread respect in Lebanon, particularly
among the country's Shia community, which makes up 40 per cent of
Lebanon's three million citizens. The President of Lebanon, Émile Lahoud, said: "For us Lebanese, and I
can tell you a majority of Lebanese, Hezbollah is a national
resistance movement. If it wasn't for them, we couldn't have
liberated our land. And because of that, we have big esteem for the
Hezbollah movement." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/18/60minutes/main550000.shtml.
However, others in Lebanon, particularly the Christian community,
criticize the movement as extremist and divisive.
The continued existence of Hezbollah's military wing, and its
presence on the Israeli border, violates the Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war, which stipulates the
"disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias" and requires
the government to "deploy the Lebanese army in the border area
adjacent to Israel." However, the Lebanese government has expressed
no interest in enforcing this aspect of the agreement.
Some argue that Hezbollah is being used by Syria and Iran as a proxy against Israel.http://www.merip.org/mero/mero042803.html
On September 2, 2004 the UN Security Council adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1559,
authored by France and the U.S. in an uncommon show of cooperation.
Echoing the Taif Agreement, the resolution "calls upon all remaining
foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon" and "for the disbanding and
disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias." Lebanon is
currently in violation of Resolution 1559 over its refusal to
disband the military wing of Hezbollah. Syria is also in violation
of the resolution because of its own military presence in
Lebanon.
On October 7, 2004 the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reported to the Security Council
regarding the lack of compliance with Resolution 1559. Mr. Annan
concluded his report by saying: "It is time, 14 years after the end
of hostilities and four years after the Israeli withdrawal from
Lebanon, for all parties concerned to set aside the remaining
vestiges of the past. The withdrawal of foreign forces and the
disbandment and disarmament of militias would, with finality, end
that sad chapter of Lebanese history." http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12147&Cr=lebanon&Cr1=
Names
The word حزب الله is transliterated in a number of ways.
Hezbollah is used by CNN and the BBC. It is also written as
Hizbullah, Hizballah, Hizbollah,
Hezbullah, and Hizb Allah, which is used by Al-Jazeera.
Hezbollah is also known as Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy
War), Islamic Jihad Organization, Islamic Jihad for the
Liberation of Palestine, Ansar al-Allah (Followers of God),
Al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah (Islamic Resistance), Organization
of the Oppressed, Organization of the Oppressed on Earth,
Revolutionary Justice Organization, Organization of Right Against
Wrong, and Followers of the Prophet Muhammed. [source: Canada's
United Nations Suppression of Terrorism Regulations (SCHEDULE 1),
SOR/2001-360, Registration: 2 October, 2001]http://www.canlii.org/ca/regu/sor1-360/whole.html
History
Hezbollah was formed from numerous other Lebanese Shia groups
shortly after Israel's 1982 invasion of the mainly Shia southern
part of Lebanon. Depending on your point of view,
the group was conceived by Iran, or at least was aided in its
inception by the arrival in Lebanon of 1,500 Revolutionary Guards
from Iran, three years after that country's own Islamic Revolution
in 1979. Iran, as an Islamic republic -- a Shia one -- remains a
close ally, financial backer, arms supplier and model for Hezbollah.
Syria also supplies Hezbollah with money and arms.
Combat Operations
Prior to 2000
Main article: Hezbollah (Pre-2000)
After emerging during the civil war of the early 1980s as an
Iranian-sponsored second militia (besides Amal) for Lebanon's Shia community,
Hezbollah focused on expelling Israeli and Western forces from
Lebanon. It is the principal suspect in several notable attacks on
the American, French, and Italian multinational force, whose claimed
purpose was the stabilization of Lebanon: the suicide bombings of the U.S. Embassy, which killed 63 including 17
Americans, of the US Marine barracks in Beirut (see Marine Barracks Bombing), which killed 241
American servicemen, and of the French multinational force
headquarters which killed 58 French troops. The attack upon the United States embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984 killed 20 people including 2
Americans. These attacks achieved their objective, insofar as
Reagan's response was to pull out American troops.
Elements of the group have been linked to involvement in
kidnapping, detention and torture of American and other Western
hostages in Lebanon by groups such as Islamic Jihad who claimed the
hostage-takings were in retaliation to the detentions,
hostage-taking and torture by the Israeli ally South Lebanon Army (SLA).
After the Israelis were forced out of central Lebanon, by a
variety of Lebanese armies including Hezbollah, they occupied a
so-called "security zone" along the southern border. During the
Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah fought the SLA and IDF. Despite being greatly outnumbered, it
soon became an opponent to be reckoned with. Casualties inflicted by
Hezbollah were a major factor in Israel's decision to withdraw from
Lebanon in 2000.
Aside from fighting the IDF in Lebanon Hezbollah may have been
involved in international terrorism. In 1992 and 1994, Hezbollah is claimed to have carried
out the Israeli Embassy Bombing and the AMIA Bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eight days after the AMIA
Bombing the Israeli Embassy in London was car bombed by
two Palestinians linked to Hezbollah.
2000 and Later
In January 2000, Hezbollah assassinated the commander of the South Lebanon Army Western Brigade, Colonel
Aql Hashem, at his home in the security zone. Hashem had been
responsible for day to day operations of the SLA.http://www.asylumlaw.org/docs/lebanon/ind01b_lebanon_ca.pdf
In May 22 2000, Israel withdrew from Lebanon to the UN-agreed Israeli border,
and their pullout was certified by the UN as completehttp://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000618.sc6878.doc.html.
However, Hezbollah claims the Shebaa Farms area, which is still occupied
by Israel, to be Lebanese territory, and on that basis has continued
to attack Israeli forces in that area. For more details see: History of Lebanon.
With the aid of a local UN peacekeeping force, Hezbollah snatched
the bodies of three IDF soldiers during an October 2000 attack in
Shebaa Farms, and sought to obtain the release of 14 Lebanese
prisoners, some of whom had been held since 1978. On January 25, 2004, Hezbollah and Israel agreed on an
exchange of prisoners. The prisoner swap was carried out on January 29: 30 Lebanese and Arab prisoners,
the remains of 60 Lebanese militants and civilians, 420 Palestinian
prisoners, and maps showing Israeli mines in South Lebanon were
exchanged for an Israeli businessman and army reserve colonel
captured in 2001 and the remains of the three IDF
soldiers mentioned above.
On July 19, 2004, a senior Hezbollah official, Ghaleb
Awwali, was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut. Hezbollah blamed Israel; credit was
claimed, and then retracted, by a previously unheard of Sunni group called Jund Ash Sham, while
Israel denied involvementhttp://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2004/07/19/story157767.asp.
According to Al-Arabiya, unidentified Lebanese police
also identified the group as a cover for Israelhttp://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aGFhFUAb_8d0&refer=top_world_news.
Israel alleges that Hezbollah had been increasingly involved in
training and arming the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas (see section in this article:
Hezbollah activities in the al-Aqsa Intifada.) This claim has
been strengthened by Nasrallah's own words. In 2001 Jordan arrested
3 Hezbollah members attempting to smuggle Katyusha rockets into the
West Bank. Nasrallah responded that "it is a duty to send arms to
Palestinians from any possible place."http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/lebanon/2004/0914lcard.htmhttp://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=6519
After Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Hezbollah attacked the IDF
along the Blue Linehttp://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?article_ID=1315&categ_ID=2&edition_id=1.
Most recently, during Awwali's funeral, Nasrallah proclaimed that
Aawali was "among the team that dedicated their lives in the last
few years to help their brothers in occupied Palestine"http://www.moqawama.org/archive/drep_2004/july/dr_0720.htm,
which some take to refer to aiding Hamas.
Israel continues to overfly Lebanese territory, eliciting
condemnation from the UN Secretary-General's representative in
Lebanon. Hezbollah's anti-aircraft fire has on some occasions landed
within the northern border region of Israel, inciting condemnation
from the UN Secretary-General http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=449.
On November 7, 2004, Hezbollah responded to what it
described as repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace by
flying an unmanned drone aircraft over northern Israel.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3990773.stm
Hezbollah activities in the al-Aqsa Intifada
Main article: al-Aqsa Intifada
In December 2001 3 Hezbollah operatives were caught in Jordan
while attempting to smuggle BM-13 Katyusha rockets into the West Bank.
Nasrallah responded that "It is a duty to send arms to Palestinians
from any possible place."http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=6519
During 2002, 2003 and 2004, the Israeli Security Forces thwarted numerous
suicide bombing attacks, some of which
Israel claims were planned and funded by Hezbollah and should have
been carried out by Tanzim activists. Israeli officials accused
Hezbollah of aiding Palestinian terrorism, including in weapon
smuggling (see also: Santorini, Karin A).
After the Maxim restaurant suicide bombing (October 4, 2003) the Israeli Air Force bombed terrorist
facilities in Ein-Saheb, Syria, as a warning to Assad, which is blamed by Israel for
sponsering Hezbollah.
On June 16, 2004, two Palestinian girls - aged 14 and
15 were arrest by the IDF for plotting a suicide bombing. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/439981.html
According to IDF statement, the two minors were recurited by Tanzim (Fatah's armed wing) activists, guided by
Hezbollah. http://www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/mainpage.asp?sl=EN&id=7&docid=32081.EN
On June 23, 2004, another allegedly Hezbollah-funded suicide bombing attack was foiled by the Israeli security forces. http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=8960
Entrance in political arena
Today, Hezbollah is an active participant in the political life
and processes of Lebanon, and its scope of operation is far beyond
its initial militant one. In 1992, it participated in elections for
the first time, winning 12 out of 128 seats in parliament. It won 10
seats in 1996, and now holds 8. Since the end of the Israeli
occupation in southern Lebanon on May 22 2000, the Hezbollah has been involved in
activities like building schools, clinics, hospitals.
Foreign relations
Hezbollah claims that it forbids its fighters entry into Iraq for
any reason, and that no Hezbollah units or individual fighters have
entered Iraq to support any Iraqi faction fighting America. However,
on April 2, 2004, Muqtada al-Sadr announced his intention to
form chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/international/middleeast/05SADR.html?8bl.
He is not known to have consulted Hezbollah or Hamas before making
this statement.
Hezbollah has no known links to Al-Qaida. Though Hezbollah has a Shi'ite
ideology, this does not exclude it from co-operation with Sunni groups. However, Al-Qaida and the Taliban, which are respectively a Wahhabi and a Deobandi group, have long histories of
conflict with Shia groups and with Iran in particular, Hezbollah's
strongest backer. Hezbollah is closely allied with Iran and has a complex relationship with Syria. Hezbollah is strongly anti-Zionist, anti-West, and anti-Israeli.
It is widely believed that Hafez al-Assad and Hezbollah were closely
related; this did not significantly affect his relations with the
rest of the world. Bashar al-Assad, his son and successor, has
been subjected to sanctions by the US due to (among other things, such as
"occupying Lebanon") his continued support for Hezbollah.
Those who consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization
consider its sponsors (in particular Iran, Syria, and Lebanon) to stand in violation of UN
Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1566. Further, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calls
for the dismantling of Hezbollah and all other militias. Israel has lodged continuous complaintshttp://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255db800470aa485255d8b004e349a/2005131e10c4ac7485256cb10053e171!OpenDocument
about Hezbollah's actions. Israel has bombed several Syrian targets
in retaliation for terrorist and guerrilla attacks by Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah that Israel
claims were sponsored by Syria. An Israeli official said that those
attacks are a "message to Syria to stop sponsoring terrorism". The
USA has imposed economic sanctions on Syria for their support of terrorism.
Ideology
Hezbollah views an Islamic republic, on the Iranian model, as
the most desirable form of governance. However, it sees this
republic as emerging from the consent of the vast majority, and, as
Lebanon is a multi-religious state, this could not happen in the
near future.
The organization holds an Islamic republic as the ideal and eventual
form of state. However, as their conception of an Islamic republic
requires the consent of the people, and Lebanon remains a
religiously and ideologically heterogeneous society, their political
platform revolves around more mundane issues. According to their
published political platform in 2003, Hezbollah favors the introduction of
an Islamic government in Lebanon by peaceful democratic means.
According to the United States Department of State and reports
submitted to Defense Technical Information Center (among other
United States agencies) as late as 2001, the organization is seeking to create
an fundamentalist Iranian-style Islamic republic and removal of all non-Islamic influences.
Hezbollah supports the destruction of the state of Israelhttp://www.unb.ca/web/bruns/9900/issue14/intnews/israel.html
and co-operates with other militant Islamic organizations such as Hamas in order to promote this goal.
Media operations
Hezbollah operates a satellite television station from Lebanon, Al-Manar TV ("the
Lighthouse") as well as a radio station, al-Nour ("the
light"). Qubth Ut Alla ("The Fist of God") is the monthly
magazine of Hezbollah's paramilitary wing. They are watched widely
by West Bank and Gazan Palestinians as well as Lebanese.
See also
Anti-Israel movements | Arab-Israeli conflict | Axis of evil | Council on American-Islamic
Relations | Foreign relations of Iran | Foreign relations of Lebanon | History of Lebanon | Imad Mugniyah
| Islam | Islam as a political movement | Islamic Terrorism | Islamism | Katyusha | List of terrorist groups | Politics of Lebanon | Qassam rocket | Special Force (computer game) | War on Terrorism | William Francis Buckley
External links, resources, and references
Official site
UN Resolutions regarding Lebanon
See also: History of Lebanon
United States Department of State
see also: United States Department of State
Information
- Iranian arrested photographing Israeli Embassy in
Azerbaijan Amos Harel and Yossi Melman, Haaretz,
September 20, 2004
- Hizballah and Syria's "Lebanese Card"
Nicholas Blanford, Middle East Online Report, September 14, 2004
- UNIFIL keeps constant watch in South
Lebanon The Daily Star, August 13, 2004
- Sticking to the rules in South Lebanon
The Daily Star, July 23, 2004
- Nasrallah to Hamas: We are under your
command The Daily Star, March 29, 2004
- Hezbollah in the Firing Line. Middle East
Report, April 28, 2003
- Zisser, Eyal, "The
Return of Hizbullah". Middle East Quarterly, Fall
2003.
- Westcott, Kathryn, "Who are Hezbollah?", BBC News Online
- Hezbollah: Lebanon, Islamists, Council on
Foreign Relations
- Hezbollah in Profile, Parliament of
Australia (PDF version)
- Abridged translation of "Nass al-Risala al-Maftuha allati wajahaha Hizballah
ila-l-Mustad'afin fi Lubnan wa-l-Alam" (Hizballah
Program), February 16, 1985 in al-Safir (Beirut).
- CNN transcripts
- Hezbollah at Terrorismfiles.org
- Rotten.com article on Hezbollah
- Hezbollah: Between Tehran and Damascus by Gary C.
Gambill and Ziad K. Abdelnour
- Hizbollah: Identity and goals.
- "Liberals, Labor, ABC unite against Hezbollah but are
they telling the truth?"
- 'Arms from Iraq caused blast at Hezbollah
base'
- Hezbollah is Recruiting Europeans for Terrorist
Attacks against Israel
Specific attacks
By WorldHistory. |
