Hezbollah: Islamic Terrorist Organization
Hezbollah is a Shi’a Islamic terrorist organization. They had emerged in Lebanon in the early 1980’s as a consolidation of other Shi’a militias. Their early activities in the 1980’s had mainly focused on the Lebanese civil war acting against American and Israeli forces. This came about due to the Israeli’s occupying Lebanon for eighteen years up until 1990. Hezbollah waged an asymmetric war using guerrilla tactics such as suicide attacks against the Israeli Defense Forces. Hezbollah is regarded as being one of the first Islamic resistance groups in the Middle East to use such tactics of suicide bombing, assassination, and capturing foreign soldiers. Hezbollah then turned in to a paramilitary organization and used missiles and other types
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Unlike the Amal Movement, whose support is predominantly in the south of the country, Hezbollah maintains a broad base of support throughout all of Lebanon with a majority Shia Muslim population. On December 1, 2006, Hezbollah’s political wing began a series of protests and sit-ins in opposition to the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. On May 7, 2008, Lebanon’s 17-month long political crisis spiraled out of control. The fighting was sparked by a government move to shut down Hezbollah’s telecommunication network and remove Beirut Airport’s security chief over alleged ties to Hezbollah. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the government’s decision to declare the group’s military telecommunications network illegal was a “declaration of war” on the organization, and demanded that the government revoke it. Hezbollah-led opposition fighters seized control of several West Beirut neighborhoods from Future Movement militiamen loyal to the backed government, in street battles that left 11 dead and 30 wounded. The opposition-seized areas were then hand over to the Lebanese Army. The army also pledged to resolve the dispute and had reversed the decisions by the government by letting Hezbollah preserve its telecommunications network and re-instating the airport’s security chief. At the end, rival Lebanese leaders reached consensus on May 21, 2008, to end the 18-month political feud that exploded in to fighting and nearly drove the country to a civil war. On the basis of this agreement, Hezbollah and its opposition allies were effectively granted veto power in Lebanon’s parliament. They also have media operations to further their cause. Hezbollah operates both a satellite television station and a radio station; the latter is helped funded by Iran. These operations help Hezbollah in their so-called psychological warfare
Unlike the Amal Movement, whose support is predominantly in the south of the country, Hezbollah maintains a broad base of support throughout all of Lebanon with a majority Shia Muslim population. On December 1, 2006, Hezbollah’s political wing began a series of protests and sit-ins in opposition to the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. On May 7, 2008, Lebanon’s 17-month long political crisis spiraled out of control. The fighting was sparked by a government move to shut down Hezbollah’s telecommunication network and remove Beirut Airport’s security chief over alleged ties to Hezbollah. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the government’s decision to declare the group’s military telecommunications network illegal was a “declaration of war” on the organization, and demanded that the government revoke it. Hezbollah-led opposition fighters seized control of several West Beirut neighborhoods from Future Movement militiamen loyal to the backed government, in street battles that left 11 dead and 30 wounded. The opposition-seized areas were then hand over to the Lebanese Army. The army also pledged to resolve the dispute and had reversed the decisions by the government by letting Hezbollah preserve its telecommunications network and re-instating the airport’s security chief. At the end, rival Lebanese leaders reached consensus on May 21, 2008, to end the 18-month political feud that exploded in to fighting and nearly drove the country to a civil war. On the basis of this agreement, Hezbollah and its opposition allies were effectively granted veto power in Lebanon’s parliament. They also have media operations to further their cause. Hezbollah operates both a satellite television station and a radio station; the latter is helped funded by Iran. These operations help Hezbollah in their so-called psychological warfare