There are many terror organizations around the world that may want to do harm to the United States or our allies and interests to promote their ideology or to gain notoriety for the group. Some terror groups can be non-state sponsored and some can be state sponsored. Some are large organizations such as Al Qaeda and ISIS while some may be subordinate organizations to the larger organizations or function under their name across the globe. We must continue to evaluate and gather intelligence on all these organizations to reduce the possibility of an attack on our homeland or interests overseas. One such organization the United States needs to watch and continue to evaluate is Hezbollah. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage identified …show more content…
Its origins date back to 1982. It originated during the civil war in Lebanon 1975 – 1990. Lebanon is a fractured country with many political groups divided by religion, where and how residents live. Lebanon has a very urbanized coast and mountainous inland region adding to many different tribes separated by valleys and mountains. There were three groups influenced by different political parties from Lebanon, Iran and Iraq that led to its development. The three parties were the Fatah led by Yasser Arafat, the Amal and the Al Dawa party. These parties originally made up the core group of Hezbollah. The formation is Hezbollah is very lengthy and many elements contributed to it from all neighbors in the region but essentially the group was formed during the invasion of southern Lebanon as a group to resist the invasion of Israeli forces. (Avon, 2012) Lebanon has had a unique political sectarian structure with a political environment cultivating many parties to try and gain power and influence in Lebanon. Hezbollah came into existence at the peak of instability in Lebanon. Iranian delegates in Lebanon helped organize the three main groups into a formed group under the umbrella of Hezbollah. They were ideologically developed to be anti West and anti Israel. (Azani, …show more content…
They forced the Israeli forces from the majority of southern Lebanon other than the Sheeba Farm and Hezbollah was able to remain in the area and take a stronger foothold of the area. Its guerrilla tactics are largely believed to be responsible for the removal of Israeli forces. It has continued to increase its weapons arsenal. (Talbot, 2008) The weapons Hezbollah maintains are significant and include several offensive weapons platforms. It is estimated that Hezbollah maintains 10 to 12 thousand missiles of which about 8 thousand of them are Katyusha rockets capable of reaching far into Israel. These rockets are supplied by Iran. The biggest concern for Israel is Hezbollah’s Zelzal-2 heavy artillery rockets capable of reaching Tel Aviv. Iran provides expertise and command and control of these systems to help Hezbollah. Israel destroyed large parts of the missile system during the 2006 war but it is believed many missiles remain. Hezbollah has the capability to hit all of Israel’s largest cities with these weapons. (Talbot, 2008) Having these weapons and the knowledge to use them is of great concern to Israel but also American interests in the region. They have proven in the past they will attack American interests and because of this there influence and Iranian backing cannot be
Lebanese Army. Hezbollah receives military training, weapons, and financial support from Iran, and political support from Syria. This is another terrorist group that are well trained and ready to kill without any remorse. Do you think that some day we will be able to live without fear these
The war as I remember started in 1982 early summer, the exact cause I do not know but the reason from what I heard was to drive the armed palestinians away from Beirut and the Southern part of the country towards the North.
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,
Before the Iranian revolution, Hezbollah had only begun to form but had not yet occupied a large presence in Lebanon. The formation of Hezbollah began with Israel and King Hussein’s joint effort to kick the PLO out
Iran are, Hamas and Hezbollah. The reason this country is considered a state-sponsor of terrorism, is that Iran has continued to support “other militia groups in the region” ( ). They have also tried to smuggle weapons to Palestinian terrorist. Iran provides funds, arms, training and safe haven to many terrorist groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon.
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.
Hezbollah maintains a close relationship with Iran and Syria, which are both states that sponsors terrorism. It is very important for Hezbollah to maintain a close relationship with both countries as it is important and powerful factor influencing the organizations’ capabilities, as it enjoys military, political, and financial support from both countries (Azani, 2006). Hezbollah’s organizational success for survival and expansion, in the face of their adversaries are based on two essentials. Hezbollah has shaped the Shiite ideology and its principles that were shaped by Ayatollah. There are six principles and the first is the: 1. Obtaining legitimacy for Shiite activism and this is how the Shiites underwent a change and became an active group that strives to achieve political goals, including the use of violent
Hezbollah is a Shiit Islamic political and paramilitary organization based in Lebanon. This organization is a political and military force. According to The Council on Foreign Relations, “Hezbollah (or "Party of God") emerged during Lebanon's fifteen-year-long civil war (1975–1990) in the aftermath of Israel's invasion in 1982 and subsequent occupation” (Masters, 2014). Hezbollah is fighting against Israel and “western imperialism” in Lebanon. This means that they wanted dominance over Israel. Hezbollah’s origins and ideology form from the Iranian Revolution. “The revolution called for a religious Muslim government that would represent the oppressed and downtrodden” states (Hezbollah: History & Overview). One of the reasons why Hezbollah is
Israel ended up withdrawing from Lebanon in 2000, yet Hezbollah, both its military and political wings of its organization, were still intact, functioning, and effective throughout the occupation and afterwards. In fact, it could be argued that Hezbollah came back with more support for its political wing because the number of seats it had in the Lebanese parliament increased from seven to nine between the elections of 1992 and 2000. In this sense, it could be viewed by Hezbollah supporters as a point towards Hezbollah’s abilities because it was able to resist Israeli occupation (one of its stated goals in its Open Letter and Manifesto) for eighteen years when Israel no longer saw any efficacy in the operation and withdrew its
Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) has its beginnings with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force (IRGCQF). This was done approximately four months before Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in 2003. This was done in the anticipation of the fall of Saadam Hussein regime in Baghdad (Wing, J 2014). In 2007 IRGCQF formed KH as a small elite force of around 400 fighters to
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
Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based political organization, has tried to increase its influence in the country of Lebanon, but they have continued military and terrorist operations against Israel and the West. It is estimated by the United States government "estimates that Hezbollah's weapons arsenal includes 40,000 to 80,000 short and long range rockets, as well as anti-aircraft, anti-tank, and anti-ship weapons" (CFR.org Staff, 2010). The fact that a supposed political organization has access to this
Throughout the 1980’s, Lebanon was engulfed in a brutal civil war that was waged between the government and different rebel factions. Hezbollah, a fundamentalist Shia militant group allied with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), was one of the major forces fighting against the Lebanese government. With Ronald Reagan as acting president of the United States, he made an effort toward stabilizing the Area by sending peacekeeping forces to Beirut. In retaliation to this involvement, a suicide bomber drove a truck into a military barracks, killing 241 peacekeepers on October 23, 1983. 21 suspects were detained in suspicion of being involved in the planning of the attack; Hezbollah, in retaliation, began to kidnap American and western individuals, demanding the release of these men along with other outrageous concessions. Meanwhile, only a few countries away, the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran was at war against its secular neighbor, Iraq. Prior to the Iranian Revolution, America had close relations with Iran’s former leader, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and supplied the regime with American made military equipment. The new Iranians leaders, however, had begun to exhaust these munitions from its war with Iraq, requiring more weapons and spare parts in order to effectively thwart the advances by Saddam Hussein’s army. The United States however, had vowed neutrality, stating they would not sell arms to the belligerents of the war. In the