Terrorism: The Hezbollah Warfare

Syria and Lebanon are two dramatically different states with a deeply intertwined history. They were both born out of French interventionism following World War 1, and have experienced complex and strained relations ever since. The two nations have both experienced prodigious political turmoil since gaining their independence, with both suffering from civil wars and conflict with their mutual neighbor, Israel. The war and turmoil that has plagued these two countries can be traced back to various competing national interests, as well as a struggle for regional power. The various religious groups in the area have historically formed transnational advocacy networks with the intent of influencing regional politics. These groups have proved to of been a major factor in the history of both nations.

Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of modern time. The “Syrian Civil war Began in March of 2011, between rebel brigades and government force; economy and infrastructure is destroyed” (Library, 2016). “Divisions between secular and religious fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict” (Corps, 2016). Additionally, the Syrian civil war has taken a significant

When the Iranian Revolution succeeded in 1979, Iran wanted to gain the admiration and the support of Arab countries, benefiting in particular from the support by the Shah of Iran and his relationship with Israel before the collapse of his regime. On this very first day of the victory of the revolution, Iran was keen to extend its bonds with the Islamic world, and when this was not possible in most cases, because of many complex causes of the revolution, Iran began to look for «organizations» instead of «regime’s or countries», in order to continue its role in Islamic issues. Iran was keen to show that this role was one of the foundations of the revolution and its beliefs, in

Now we all know there are sleeper cells living in the United States and have apprehended such members who have ties to Hezbollah so for the United States to prevent or reduce an attack from Hezbollah, the federal government will use multiple departments of the Intelligence Community. The management within certain contributors of the Intelligence community could be an arduous mission with regards to combating the war on terror here on the home front. As mentioned above about certain departments within the Department of Homeland Security providing information of a possible Hezbollah attacks, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis provides information to state, local, territorial and private sectors and keep them well informed of

In 1958, Muslims and Christians were not getting along in Lebanon. Lebanon had tensions with Egypt because Christian President Camille Chamoun did not sever ties with the Western countries that attacked Egypt during the Suez Crisis. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser did not like this. These tensions were also increased more because the Lebanon President liked the Baghdad Pact. The Egyptian President did not like this pact because he thought it went against Arabian nationalism. Egypt and Syria decided to make the United Arabian Republic after this, and Lebanese Muslims pushed their government to join them.The Christians in Lebanon wanted to stay close to the Westerners who attacked during the Suez Crisis. Internal instability when Muslims

Iran gave direct support to Hezbollah through the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah opposed Lebanon because it was supported by Israel and the United States, and in 1985 it issued its political agenda through the “Open Letter to the Downtrodden in Lebanon and in the World.”# In 1989, the Taif Accord emerged and the Lebanese Civil War ended in 1990 when Syrian troops moved into parts of Lebanon that were not occupied by Israel. The Taif Accord balanced powers between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon, and overall tried to maneuver equality amongst both groups although Sunni elites were given the dominant role. After the Taif Accord, economic conditions continued to worsen and many began to underestimate the ability of Syria to control Lebanon. Syria then made the strategic move to promote Rafiq al-Hariri in 1992 to rescue Lebanon from its eventual demise. Hariri was able to boost the economy and revive morale in the Sunni communities. By the 1990s Hariri was capable of governing Lebanon independent of Syria. This began a decline of Syrian support for him, and a decline of Sunni dominance. After Hariri’s assassination in 2005, Syria was able to grasp control of Lebanon once more, and enabled Hezbollah to demonstrate a larger role. First existing as a revolutionary Islamist movement,

Following the Algiers Accords, the first terrorism related U.S. sanctions were put in place against Iran following a series of Iran supported terrorist attacks by Hezbollah in 1983. Hezbollah or “Party of God” is an extremist political religious movement based in Lebanon. In the early 1980s, Iran helped create Hezbollah by providing funding, training, and the indoctrination of new members into what, until then, was a “fledgling movement.” Initially, Hezbollah was created and sponsored by Iran as a “form of resistance” to Israeli presence in southern Lebanon. However, Hezbollah’s dedication to the creation of an “Iran-style Islamic republic” in Lebanon has led Hezbollah to seek the removal of all non-Islamic influences

Similarly, the US was expected to intervene in a decisive way to prevent Israel from proceeding in its WMD plans, but it did not. In contrast to Washington's long-standing opposition to the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the United States had practically supported Israel's effort to maintain regional military superiority by turning a blind eye toward its various clandestine WMD programs. Even when the US administration decided to intervene to restore regional stability disrupted by its surrogate, as was the case in 1982 when the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its complicit role in the massacre of innocent Palestinians by a Christian militia at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps made the region less stable, the US aligned itself with the pro-Israel groups and engaged in a civil war that had nothing to do to the US interests in the region.

The use of the Hezbollah has greatly added to the continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict and has limited cooperation in all regions. The Hezbollah also attracted U.S. attention after a suicide bomber killed over two hundred Marines in Beirut.

Since the establishment of Hezbollah in 1982 as part of the Iranian government’s Revolutionary Guard, according to Spindlove et al (2010, pp. 249-252), the goal of this organization has since been the creation of an independent Islamic state exclusive of the nation of Lebanon. Moreover, according to a compilation of information by Berman (2015), it is widely believed that the Hezbollah ideology spawned during the Iranian Revolution. During this revolution, the rhetoric called upon Muslims to over through governments that oppressed them and their beliefs. Within Lebanon, according to perceptions of the Hezbollah leaders, the United States (U.S.) was ultimately to blame for the oppression of Lebanese Muslims and their beliefs while, simultaneously, viewing Israel as an extension of the U.S. and its policies within the region. Led by religious clerics, in addition to their desire for independence, the Hezbollah organization adopted an

On July 12, 2006 Hezbollah launched an elaborate cross-border raid. In the first stage of the raid Hezbollah launched Katyusha rockets on Israeli positions in villages such as Zar’it. Five civilians were wounded. While Israel was distracted a group of Hezbollah fighters crossed the border and coordinated an attack on two Israeli Humvees with a group of Hezbollah fighters near the border in south Lebanon. After killing all the soldiers in one of the Humvees Hezbollah managed to disable the other Humvee and capture two Israeli soldiers and transport them to Lebanon. The point of this capture was to negotiate a prisoner exchange, but what Hezbollah received in return was a war. On top of the two captured three Israeli soldiers were killed. Five more Israeli soldiers would be killed later in a failed rescue attempt.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 by radical Lebanese Shiites who wanted to create an Islamic state in Lebanon and to free their land of Israeli domination (Byers, 2003). These extremists called their group Hezbollah, in English this translates to Party

In this day and age, we find ourselves at odds with our “identity” as we find that not only are we representing ourselves, but we also have ties to religion, sect, tribe, and family (Angrist). This shows that despite the cohesiveness and threads that attach us, it has the power to pull people, families, and in some cases countries apart. This conflict comes to a head when religion and ethnicity are interwoven. Hence when divisions occur, this can lead to violent wars that destroy trust between individuals. This can ingrain a sense of uneasiness and distrust that plagues people’s ideas and leaves a country divided. This is particularly evident in Lebanon. Ethnic and religious division led to the festering of feelings of marginalization and discrimination, which boiled over into the Lebanese civil war, a war that claimed the lives of 150,000 people (Szekely). The anger and frustration birthed from this to chaos, and conflict has in turn increased the division between ethnic and religious factions and led to the crumbling of Lebanese nationalism. This essay is specifically aimed at assessing the relationships between ethnic and religious divisions in Lebanon and explores how it contributed to the civil war. This is done by identifying and analyzing the main actors and makes an explanation of the historical divisions stemming from the National Pact, branching out to include the consequences of the civil war on the political structures and the identities of the

Terrorism is an ancient method of defeating an opponent. Accounts of terrorism existed eons prior to the word itself being conceived. This was established by detailed relics discovered nearly fifty miles south of Mosul in Iraq. Assurnasirpal, the king of Assyria from 884–860 BCE, enforced his law on captured regions by raising stone tributes to his successful conquests. Roux (1966) describes that written on these monuments in cuneiform, is the following:

July 2006 an unforgettable date for all the Lebanese and Israeli citizens, 12 July was the beginning of the visible war between these two parties and which was semi-finished in 14 august or in other words after a month from its beginning.one of the main reasons behind letting the volcano between these two parties to explode is the reply of Hezbollah by firing rockets at Israeli borders towns and this was a because of a clear alteration of an anti-tank missile attack on two protected Humvees patrolling the Israeli side of border town. And this act resulted in death of some Israeli soldiers as well as adduction of some others and they were taken by Hezbollah, and Hezbollah refused to release any of them except if an exchange of Lebanese prisoners is done with Israel. Israel refused to do so and by that Israel didn’t hesitate to start a war with Hezbollah and decided to continue what she have begun with and started to fire rocket to Lebanese towns with no fear that she is harming citizens with no fault other that they are Lebanese. Hezbollah here didn’t also hesitate to calm down the problems but replied to the Israeli by firing more rockets on their towns and by that both Lebanese and Israeli towns were on fire. This war resulted in death of thousands of Lebanese citizens and hundreds of Israelis, since both of the two parties have used weapons which cause