Note: this article was written last year... Based upon current events - it would appear that Hezbollah has been conveniently added to the current day Iranian Alliance against Israel... a potential recipe for a Global Jihad...
Hamas and Hezbollah: how they are different and why they might cooperate against Israel
Published: October 17, 2023 12:42pm EDT
As Israel prepares for a
massive military operation against Hamas in Gaza, risks of an escalating regional conflict loom large. The most critical additional threat to Israel is from Hezbollah, the militant group and political party based across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon.
Hamas and
Hezbollah are both backed by Iran and see weakening Israel as their primary raison d’etre. However, the two groups are not the same. Their differences will likely influence their actions – and Israel’s – in the days and weeks to come.
Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah has, to date, not gone to war purely for the Palestinian cause. That
could change. Hezbollah has not yet fully entered the current conflict, but the group has
exchanged fire with Israel, across the northern border with Lebanon. Meanwhile, Iran has said that an expansion of the war may be “
inevitable”.
What is Hezbollah?
Named the “
party of God”,
Hezbollah bills itself as a Shia resistance movement. Its
ideology is focused on expelling western powers from the Middle East and on
rejecting Israel’s right to exist.
The group was founded in 1982 – in the middle of the 15-year Lebanese civil war – after Israel invaded Lebanon in retaliation for attacks perpetrated by Lebanon-based Palestinian factions. It was quickly backed by Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which supplied funding, weapons and training in an effort to expand Iranian
influence in Arab states.
Hezbollah’s military force continued to develop after the Lebanese civil war came to an end in 1990, despite most other factions disarming. The group continued to focus on “
liberating” Lebanon from Israel, and it engaged in years of guerrilla warfare against Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon until Israel’s withdrawal in 2000. Hezbollah then largely focused its operations on retaking the disputed border area of
Shebaa Farms for Lebanon.
In 2006, Hezbollah engaged in a five-week war with Israel in an attempt to
settle scores rather than with an aim to liberate Palestine. That conflict killed over
158 Israelis and over 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians.
From 2011, during the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah’s power grew further as its forces assisted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran, against mostly Sunni rebels. In 2021, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group had
100,000 fighters (though other
estimates range between 25,000 and 50,000). It boasts a sophisticated military arsenal equipped with precision rockets and drones.
The group has also functioned as a political party in Lebanon and holds significant
influence, often described as a “
state within a state.” Eight members were first
elected to the Lebanese parliament in 1992, and in 2018, a Hezbollah-led coalition formed a government.
Hezbollah retained its 13 seats at the 2022 election but the coalition lost its majority and the country currently has no
fully functioning government. Other Lebanese parties accuse Hezbollah of paralysing and
undermining the state and of contributing to Lebanon’s persistent instability.
1
