Back Ground Information

Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanon-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, is the group’s highestgoverning body and is led by Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah. Hizballah is dedicated to liberating Jerusalem and eliminating Israel, and has formally advocated ultimate establishment of Islamic rule in Lebanon. Nonetheless, Hizballah has actively participated in Lebanon’s political system since 1992. Hizballah is closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran but has the capability and willingness to act independently. Though Hizballah does not share the Syrian regime’s secular orientation, the group has been a strong ally in helping Syria advance its political objectives in the region.

Hizballah operates in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Beka’a Valley, and southern Lebanon. Has established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and Asia. Hizballah also provides guidance and financial and operational support for Palestinian extremist groups engaged in terrorist operations in Israel and the occupied territories. In 2004, Hizballah launched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that left Lebanese airspace and flew over the Israeli town of Nahariya before crashing into Lebanese territorial waters. Ten days prior to the event, the Hizballah Secretary General said Hizballah would come up with new measures to counter Israeli Air Force violations of Lebanese airspace.

In February 1985 Sheik Ibrahim al-Almin publicly declared the group’s manifesto. According to “The Hizballah Program” the principles of its ideology comprise:
To expel Americans, the French and their allies definitely from Lebanon, putting an end to any colonialist entity on our land.

To submit the phalanges to a just power and bring them all to justice for the crimes they have perpetrated against Muslims and Christians.

To permit all the sons of our people to determine their future and to choose in all the liberty the form of government they desire. We call upon all of them to pick the option of Islamic government which alone is capable of guaranteeing justice and liberty for all. Only an Islamic regime can stop any future tentative attempts of imperialistic infiltration onto our country.

It also includes complete destruction of the state of Israel

It is reported in late 2007 and early 2008 that Hizballah has replenished and increased it’s military potential. In Lebanon they have continued to disrupt the political arena and at times it appears that the country is split among who has the real power over the people or is Hizballah a welcome militant group to the Lebanese government. During the 2006 war with Israel Hizballah acted unmolested by the government as the organization launched rockets into Israel. It appears only a matter of time once again before the group plans a new war against Israel.

Hassan Nasrallah
Hizbullah chief during 2006 televised speech at the end of the conflict ‘Lebanese are standing strong, and it is clear the enemy has not achieved any military objectives’; adds: When in any Arab-Israeli conflict were two million Israelis forced to flee or enter bomb shelters.

Hassan Nasrallah was born in East Beirut’s Bourj Hammoud neighborhood in 1960. Although his family was not particularly religious, Nasrallah was interested in religious studies In 1975, the civil war in Lebanon forced the family to move to their ancestral home in Bassouriyeh, where Hassan Nasrallah completed his secondary education at the public school of Sour(Tyre). Here he joined the Amal Movement a militia representing Shiites in Lebanon. In 1982, at the start of the First Lebanon War, Nasrallah quit Amal and joined the Revolutionary Guards. He was appointed commander of the troops in Bekaa. The Revolutionary Guards encouraged the Lebanese Shiites to develop a new framework called Hizbullah . Nasrallah became the leader of Hizballah after Israel assassinated the movement’s leader Abbas al-Musawi in 1992. He has focused heavily on developing Hizballah’s military capabilities. Hezbollah’s military campaigns of the late 1990s were believed to be one of the main factors that led to the Israeli decision to withdraw from Southern Lebanon in 2000, thus ending 18 years of occupation.

Under his leadership, the organization unleashed a wave of deadly terror attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets throughout the world, which climaxed with the attacks on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in March 1992, which killed 22, and on the city’s Jewish Community Center in July 1994, which killed 80. Despite Israeli efforts, Hizbullah managed to successfully conduct guerilla attacks in the Israeli security zone, leading to a steady flow of Israeli casualties. Hizbullah filmed their operations against the IDF , the tapes were distributed worldwide to attract support as well as to work on the psyche of the Israeli public.

The 2006 War

It may not be considered a war on a major scale however the war between Hizballah and Israeli Defense Personnel changed the way the the world looked at this militant / political party. Israel destroyed Lebanons infrastructure in the South and Beirut was hit very hard. In the end though, Israel did not accomplish it’s true main objective which was to rout and break Hizballah while rescuing two missing Israeli soldiers. It proved once again that it is difficult for a convetional army to operate against very mobile Militias. Precision bombing by Israel was not enough to destroy Hizballah. Militias, especially one as organized and thought out as Hizballah, put conventional militaries at a disadvantage. The main disadvantage is that they blend with the public at large and use religious and populated buildings for protection. Unless the conventional military is willing to risk extremely negative world reaction to large number of civilian casualties or to risk high numbers of casualties of their own by using ground troops to go house to house to root out the militants, this style of fighting will continue to give militants an unfair advantage.

July 12, 2006 members of Hizballah crossed the Lebanese-Israeli border near Shtula, an Israeli farming village, and ambushed two Israeli Army Hummvees. Hizballah captured two Israeli soldiers and murdered three others. Five more Israeli soldiers were killed in the ensuing pursuit of Hizballah members into Lebanese territory. The capture of two soldiers and the deaths of 8 others enraged the Israeli public. Hizballah began firing katyusha rockets into Northern Israel and continued throughout the war. The rocket attacks went further into Israel than any rockets in the past. Hizballah claimed that the rockets could reach farther if needed to Tel Aviv.

The ambush, ensuing casualties and kidnapped soldiers resulted in immediate retaliation by the Israeli military, which responded by bombing roads, bridges, and power plants inside Lebanon. The specific targeting of al-Manar, the Hizballah controlled television station, and the Lebanese international airport as well as the blockading of Lebanon’s sea ports in an attempt to force the release of the captured Israeli troops. These retaliatory actions by Israel resulted in the deaths of dozens of Lebanese civilians. During the Lebanese-Israeli conflict of 2006, Hezbollah fired 3,970 rockets into Northern Israel in the course of a month, killing 43 Israeli civilians.

Leadership and Organization

Led by Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah. Hizballah. Receives financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid from Iran, and diplomatic, political, and logistical support from Syria. Hizballah also receives funding from charitable donations and business interests. Several thousand supporters and a few hundred terrorist operatives. Even though Hizballah is closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran the organization has the capability and willingness to act independently. Closely allied with, and often directed by Iran, it may have conducted operations that were not approved by Tehran. Though Hizballah does not share the Syrian regime’s secular orientation, the group has been a strong ally in helping Syria advance its political objectives in the region. Hezbollah has a military branch known as Al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya (“The Islamic Resistance”) and is the possible sponsor of a number of lesser-known militant groups, some of which may be little more than fronts for Hezbollah itself, including the Organization of the Oppressed, the Revolutionary Justice Organization, the Organization of Right Against Wrong, and Followers of the Prophet Muhammad. Nasrallah has since stated that Hizballah has completely recovered from this war and still has 20,000 unused rockets available. In late 2004, Hizballah’s al-Manar television station, based in Beirut with an estimated ten million viewers worldwide, was prohibited from broadcasting in France. Al-Manar was placed on the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) in the United States, which led to its removal from the program offerings of its main cable service provider, and made it more difficult for al-Manar associates and affiliates to operate in the United States. It’s content and programming tries to instill qualities that lead to support Hizballah principles and the development as well as the recruitment of suicide bomber candidates.

Major Acts of Terrorism

Known or suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-US and anti-Israeli terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombings of the US Embassy killing 63 people and US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 killing 241 military personnel and the US Embassy annex in Beirut in 1984.

Three members of Hizballah, ‘Imad Mughniyah, Hasan Izz-al-Din, and Ali Atwa, are on the FBI’s list of 22 Most Wanted Terrorists for the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 during which a US Navy diver was murdered.

Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of Americans and other Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s. Hizballah also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and the Israeli cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994.

In 2000, Hizballah operatives captured three Israeli soldiers in the Shab’a Farms and kidnapped an Israeli noncombatant.

Hizballah also provides guidance and financial and operational support for Palestinian extremist groups engaged in terrorist operations in Israel and the occupied territories.

In March 2004, Hizballah and HAMAS signed an agreement to increase joint efforts to perpetrate attacks against Israel.

April 12, 1984 —Hizballah bombed a restaurant near a U.S. Air Force base in Torrejon, Spain, killing 18 servicemen and wounding 83 people.

December 1984 Hizballah terrorists hijacked a Kuwaiti Airlines plane and murdered American passengers Charles Hegna and William Stanford.

Responsible for the 1994 bombings of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina, in which eighty-five people were killed and more than 200 others injured.

There has been many more attacks attributed to Hizballah but the described events above provide an example.