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Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Sunday. The large picture shows Hezbollah’s top leader Hassan Nasrallah at a funeral over the weekend.
1 / 2Photo: Bilal Hussein/AP/TT
Shia Muslim Hezbollah is strong. With Iran at its back and with armed, political and social branches of Lebanese society, the organization is usually called a “state within a state”.
The movement’s goal is to wipe out Israel and to create an Islamic state in Lebanon.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October last year, the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire across the border almost daily. With the attacks on Hezbollah’s pagers last week, the conflict has reached a new level, although Israeli President Isaac Herzog has denied that Israel was involved in the attack. However, a wide range of observers agree that Israel is the only actor that has both the will and the ability to carry out a similar operation.
Hezbollah themselves state that its forces amount to 100,000, while Israel estimates that it is about 20,000-25,000 full-time soldiers plus tens of thousands more reservists, writes Bloomberg.
The movement has also been provided with a large weapons system from Iran and also tactical assistance from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
– When they have to respond to Israel, Hezbollah consults with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard about what to do. That’s why they are so formidable as a military power, Iran can strengthen the military threat against Israel, says terrorism researcher Magnus Ranstorp, who has mapped Hezbollah, among other things, and describes Hezbollah and Iran as “deeply connected”.
Some limitations
Hezbollah is now trying to create a military threat to Israel, but there are some limitations to what the movement can do, although parts of Hezbollah’s extensive weapons arsenal can reach far into Israel.
– Israel is militarily much stronger than Hezbollah, but Hezbollah is 10-15 times stronger than Hamas and has Iran behind it, says Magnus Ranstorp.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah functions as “a state within a state”, with a military power at least as large as the country’s army and a strong role in politics and social life.
– Hezbollah is very strongly rooted in welfare activities and has a military branch that conducts guerrilla warfare and military attacks against Israel. In addition, Hezbollah has terrorist activities, which are coordinated with the organization’s top leader Hassan Nasrallah, says Magnus Ranstorp.
Top-managed organization
The movement as a whole has been labeled a terrorist by several countries, while others have chosen to label only its armed branch as a terrorist in order to keep diplomatic channels open.
The overall goal of the hierarchically structured operation is to establish an Islamic state in Lebanon and wipe out Israel, which Iran also wants to happen. Far from everyone in Lebanon supports the movement.
– But some perceive them as a deterrent against Israeli attacks, I think that is a fairly widespread view, that it is Hezbollah that prevents Israel from attacking, says Ranstorp.
FACT Hezbollah
An Islamist movement, created in the early 1980s as a reaction to a conflict situation that is very similar to today’s. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had used southern Lebanon as a base for attacks on northern Israel, prompting Israel to invade in 1982. Inspired by the Islamist revolution in Iran a few years earlier, Lebanese Islamists formed Hezbollah (“Party of God”), a name like the Iranian the leader Khomeini chose.
A stated main goal has been to throw out all “colonialists”. In practice, this has meant that much of the armed struggle has been directed against Israel – seen as the West’s representative in the Middle East.
Hezbollah has been a political party in Lebanon since 1982 and functions as “a state within a state”, with a military power at least as large as the country’s army and a strong role in politics and social life.
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