Hezbollah

If anyone is intersted here's a paper I wrote on Hezbollah.
Introduction



Hezbollah is an Islamic military terror movement that traces its origin to Lebanon and Iran. They are referred to different names to include Hizballah, Hizbollah, Hisbullah or Hezbollah. Hizbollah referee to themselves as "the party of God." Hezbollah maintains a goal to spread Islam throughout the earth, destroy Israel and to rid the Middle East of western influences. Hezbollah is an umbrella terror organization that works closely with organizations such as Hamas, the Islamic Brotherhood, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and other terror groups with similar ideology. Hezbollah has also formed alliances with state governments such as Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been instrumental in influencing foreign policy within the United States and other countries. They have conducted terrorist attacks against western or Israeli targets which in turn have influenced these governments interest in the region. In recent years Hezbollah has extended their influence to beyond the Lebanese or Middle Eastern region. They have conducted terror attacks in Argentina against Israeli targets. It is believed that Hezbollah has established sleeper cells worldwide, even in the United States. It is difficult to detect these sleeper cells and it is estimated that they may be working with gangs such as MS-13 in the US and drug cartels in Mexico. Hezbollah has worked closely with the Iranian government and the government of Iran which has used Hezbollah as a sort of terrorist deference since the Iranian government lacks nuclear weapons deterrence. It is estimated that since the Iranian government has conducted military exercises with the Venezuelan government in South America, and Hezbollah has been included in past Iranian military exercise with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, that the Venezuelan military exercises have included Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s influence has spread worldwide and has helped to further the Islamic cause. They are staunch anti-Israel and anti-US. Even though they are attempting to legitimize themselves as a legitimate political party in Lebanon, they still preach, attempt, and practice Jihad against US and Israeli targets. Hezbollah’s strength and influence in the Middle East will continue to grow unless serious action is taken.

Hezbollah is and remains to be a strong umbrella terrorist organization with worldwide reach that must be dealt with in a stronger manner than sanctions and remaining on the State Department’s terror group list.



History of Hezbollah

The roots of Hezbollah can be found in the Lebanese civil war. The Lebanese civil war occurred during 1975-1990 during which times Israel (the Israeli Defense Force, the IDF) invaded and occupied Lebanon twice, first in 1978 and secondly in 1982. The Israeli IDF occupied southern Lebanon in an attempt to stop attacks from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which had been using southern Lebanon as a base. Israel was successful in removing the PLO from southern Lebanon during the 1982 invasion, but their occupation lit the fuse for Hezbollah to grow in popularity. The Israeli occupation and the successful Shiite revolution in Iran helped to provide a foundation for Hezbollah to recruit from.

It was during the second Israeli invasion that Hezbollah really grew into power. Hezbollah formed a close alliance with Hamas, Syria and Iran. Each was also trying to remove Israel and establish an Islamic government in Israel. Hezbollah had taken a strong hold of southern Lebanon to the north of Israel and Hama in the Gaza Strip to the south of Israel. Both organizations attacked Israel through terror and military actions.

The ideology of Hezbollah can be found from Islamic teaching and the interpretations from Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. According to GlobalSecurity.org: Hezbollah is a radical Shiite group that "takes it's ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the Ayatollah Khomeini" (www.globalsecurity.com). Because of the close ties with Iran, operations against Hezbollah would mean operations against Iran, and operations against Iran would mean operations against Hezbollah. Hezbollah has trained with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard which is the radical military branch of the Iranian military that is controlled by the clerics, not the government. Action against Hezbollah is a battlefront that should only be attempted after Iraq and Afghanistan is fully secured and safe to act as a staging ground for coalition troops. However, action could awaken sleeper cells throughout the world.

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Hezbollah’s Tools of Terror

Since Hezbollah’s beginning in 1982, Hezbollah has developed a strong gathering of support amongst the Shiite Muslim population, especially in southern Lebanon and Iran. Hezbollah is driven by the idea of umma. According to Azani, umma is the belief that the “Islamic community of believers will unite and restore Islam’s status as the leading factor in the world.” (pg 23). This umma means the reestablishment of Islam as a major world force, and the regaining of Spain and Portugal to Muslim land.

The Umma is conducted by two means: Dawa and Jihad. Jihad is the holy struggle against non Muslims. According to Azani there are many different types of jihad, for instance the internal jihad struggle, violent jihad, and non violent jihad. Many radical Muslims only consider jihad possible through violent means against non believers. This includes follower of Hezbollah.

The other part of the umma is dawa. Dawa means the invitations, propagation or call to Islam. Dawa is conducted by peaceful means by spreading the word of Islam and trying to convert non believers to Islam. Dawa is also conducted through charitable organizations, building mosques, community involvement, and getting involved in local government. It is the peaceful conversion of Islamic non believers to becoming Islamic.

Both of these techniques; Jihad and Dawa, have been and continue to be used by Hizbollah. Recently the growth of Hezbollah has developed into a political movement with gaining support in the Lebanese population. In a recent article on NPR Big East Goss how Hezbollah has gone from “bullets to ballot boxes.” Hezbollah has even established a theme park in southern Lebanon where children can play with military equipment, see mock battles, and captured Israeli equipment. This theme park is visited frequently by visitors from all over. This is another step in their dawa of winning over the populations to their beliefs and cause. The official Hezbollah website has many pictures of their religious leaders with children and the needy; it does not have pictures of the militia or the results of Jihad. If there are any pictures of militias or the aftermath of attacks, it is always from Israeli or US attacks and has children in the ruble. Their propaganda war against western forces is very apparent yet is still effective.

Other leaders of terror groups have expressed success in the dawa also. Osama bin Laden has expressed numerous times of his delight in the growth of Islam since the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden and others view their jihad as a catalyst of Islamic dawa.



Terrorist Activity by Hezbollah

Hezbollah has a strong history of terrorist activity. They have attacked US embassies in Lebanon, Israeli embassies in Argentina, and High jacked many airplane flights. It is also assumed by the US State Department that Hezbollah has trained terrorists that have been successful in attacks not listed. Also since the ideology of Hezbollah has gained in popularity in the Islamic world, terrorist attacks that Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for, may in fact have been motivated by Hezbollah teachings.

The following is a list of terrorist activities conducted by Hezbollah throughout the world since their inception in 1982:

• 04/83: Explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, 63 employees killed

• 10/83: Explosion at the U.S./French HQ in Beirut, 240 U.S. Marines and 58 paratroopers killed

• 12/83: Explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait

• 03/84: Kidnapping and murder of CIA Beirut Station Head William Buckley

• 09/84: Car bomb detonated at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait

• 12/84: Kuwaiti passenger jet hijacked en route from Dubai to Karachi, 2 U.S. citizens murdered

• 04/85: Explosion at the Zaragosa restaurant in Spain

• 05/85: Kidnapping of Terry Anderson

• 06/85: TWA passenger jet hijacked en route from Athens to Rome, U.S. citizen murdered

• 01/87: Kidnapping of Rev. Terry Waite

• 06/87: Kidnapping of American journalist Charles Glass

• 02/88: Kidnapping and murder of UNIFIL Col. Higgins

• 04/88: Kuwaiti flight KU-22 hijacked en route from Bangkok to Kuwait

• 03/92: Explosion at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, 29 civilians killed and 250 injured

• 07/94: Explosion at the Jewish community "AMIA" building in Argentina, 100 civilians killed, 200 injured

• 06/96: Involvement in attack on U.S. Army base in Saudi Arabia, 19 killed and 500 injured

• 10/00: Israeli citizen Elhanan Tannenbaum kidnapped

During the second Israeli occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah took their Jihad overseas to Argentina and attacked Israeli targets. This displayed their willingness and ability to attack foreign targets successfully. Since the Israeli withdrawal of Lebanon, there have been no Jihad style attacks from Hezbollah. The most probable reason is the switch from jihad to dawa and the attempt of Hezbollah to gain world recognition and gain sympathy for their cause. .

The United States response to Hezbollah has been a mix of military actions, military responses, sanctions, and withdrawal from Hezbollah occupied lands. This has created a sense of accomplishments in the Hezbollah organization and throughout the Islamic community. Many Muslims believe that with enough harassment, westerners will eventually leave occupied territory. Many Muslims believe the US leaving Lebanon and Somalia in the 1990s is examples of their success.

The far reach of Hezbollah and the difficulty in linking Hezbollah to specific terrorist attacks is displayed in the 1983 embassy attack in Beirut and the 1992 embassy attack in Argentina. Both of these attacks were claimed by a group called the Islamic Jihad Organization and were based in Iran. The United States intelligence agencies have linked these organizations to Hezbollah. More specifically, the Israeli and US intelligence agencies were able to link both of these attacks to Imad Fayez Mughniyah who the US State Department said was a senior Hezbollah member is charge of intelligence and military operations. It is easy to see how difficult it can be to link umbrella terror organizations to specific terrorist attacks. Unless the intelligence agencies have been monitoring these groups very closely or the groups actually claims responsibility for the attack, it may never be possible to link the group and attack.

Hezbollah’s terrorist activity has focused on embassy bombings, airline high jacking and kidnapping. The large scale attacks, embassy bombings and airline high jacking occurred early in the forming of Hezbollah and we focused on maximizing effect and media coverage. This proved to be very effective to Hezbollah. They were able to further their cause and to display themselves as a martyr to the entire world. Since the Israeli embassy bombings in Argentina, Hezbollah has not participated directly in many terrorist attacks because they believe it might hinder their political power.

Venezuela, Iran, Mexican Cartels and Hezbollah

In recent years Iran and Venezuela have formed a close alliance with the goal of removing US world dominance. Iran and Venezuela have conducted small scale military operations in Venezuela. Iran has contributed aid to Venezuela and has started to develop business in the South American country. There are claims that Iran (www.bretbart.com) has started to deliver short range missiles to Venezuela aimed at the United States.

It has long been speculated that a tie is growing between Venezuela and Hezbollah. According to Roggio two Venezuelan personnel have been noted by the US Treasury Department for their support of Hezbollah. “The US Treasury Department has added two Venezuelans to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists for their support of Hezbollah. Ghazi Nasr al Din, a Venezuelan diplomat, and Fawzi Kan'an, a businessman, both provide support for the Lebanese-based terror group.” Support by two people does not mean that the government of Venezuela supports or has conducted operations with Hezbollah, what it means is that a senior diplomat was caught overtly contributing money. This raises the question of how much covert funding is occurring.

According to Congress woman Sue Myrick (R-NC) she believes that Hezbollah is working with Mexican drug cartels on the US borders. Due to security reasons Congress woman Myrick could name the intelligence personnel that spoke of the Hezbollah linkages with cartels. Therefore much of the media coverage of her statements did not view her statements as creditable. However, this is a real concern. Drug cartels have provided funding for South American governments including Venezuela. Drug cartels have raised funds for Hezbollah (www.cns.com). Therefore it is safe to assume that Hezbollah cells are working with Mexican drug cartels and may be within the United States.

Conclusion

Hezbollah remains to have strong global presence regardless of US sanctions and being placed on the US terror list. They have spread worldwide and have developed ties with many Anti-US governments. Because of these close ties, Hezbollah is being used as deterrence against US attacks. The US inaction has allowed Hezbollah to grow in strength and popularity. This growth is due to Muslim perception of oppression from Israel and western powers. To overcome this perception Western governments will have to work closely with governments to rid themselves of these terror organizations while isolating governments that support them.









References



Azani, E. (2009). Hezbollah: The Story of the Party of God, From Revolution to Institutionalization. Palgrave Macmillian publishing NY, NY.



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Author unknown. (2010). Hizballah. Retrieved 11 December 2010 from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/Hizballah.htm



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Author unknown. (2010). Hizbullah – the Party of God. Retrieved 11 December 2010 from http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/320/324/324.2/hizballah/



Author unknown. (2010). The Lantern of Guidance. Retrieved 11 December 2010 from http://english.moqawama.org/



Elliot, J. (2010). GOP Rep: Hezbollah Partners With Drug Cartels To Infiltrate America's Southern Border. Retrieved 11 December 2010 from http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/gop_rep_hezbollah_is_infiltrating_americas_souther_1.php



Gunning, J. (2008). Hamas in Politics, Democracy, Religion, Violence. Columbia University Publishing NY, NY.



Lyon, A. (2010). Hezbollah Theme Park Draws the Crowds. The Independent. Retrieved 11 December 2010 from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/hezbollah-theme-park-draws-the-crowds-2052895.html



Mora, E. (2010). State Dept: Hezbollah Raising Funds Through Drug Cartels in South America But ‘No Credible Information’ of Terrorist Operations There. Retrieved 11 December 2010 from http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/67466





Roggio, B. (2008). US designates two Hiszbollah Operatives in Venezuela as Terrorists. The Long War Journal. Retrieved 11 December 2010 from http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/06/us_designates_two_he.php