Editing Hezbollah (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Hezbollah}}
In 1982, Hezbollah was conceived by Muslim clerics and funded by [[Iran]] primarily to fight the [[1982 Lebanon War|Israeli invasion of Lebanon]].<ref name="bbc-hi-me2">{{cite news |date=21 May 2008 |title=Who Are Hezbollah? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4314423.stm |access-date=15 August 2008 |website=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> The 1982 and the [[1978 South Lebanon conflict|1978 Israeli invasion]]s had created a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon; many villages in the south had been destroyed and large numbers of Shias had been displaced from their homes.{{sfn|Al-Aloosy|2020|p=176-177}} In addition, the Shia had long been underrepresented in Lebanese politics.{{sfn|Farida|2019|p=2}} Both these factors fostered resentment among the local Shia population, making them a fertile ground for recruitment.{{sfn|Al-Aloosy|2020|p=176-177}} Hezbollah was set up by local Shia committees, under the leadership of [[Ruhollah Khomeini]].{{sfn|Farida|2019|p=2}} Its forces were trained and organized by a contingent of 1,500 [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Iranian Revolutionary Guards]] that arrived from Iran with permission from the [[Ba'athist Syria|Syrian government]], which [[Syrian occupation of Lebanon|occupied Lebanon's eastern highlands]], permitted their transit to a base in the [[Bekaa valley]]<ref name="nybooks">{{cite journal |author=Adam Shatz |date=29 April 2004 |title=In Search of Hezbollah |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17060 |journal=[[The New York Review of Books]] |volume=51 |issue=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822195222/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17060 |archive-date=22 August 2006 |access-date=14 August 2006}}</ref> which was in [[Syrian occupation of Lebanon|occupation of Lebanon]] at the time.

Scholars differ as to when Hezbollah came to be a distinct entity. Various sources list the official formation of the group as early as 1982<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/9155/ |title=Hezbollah (a.k.a., Hizbollah, Hizbu'llah)|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927093727/http://www.cfr.org/publication/9155/|archive-date=27 September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071700912.html|title=What Is Hezbollah?|first=Jefferson |last=Morley|date=17 July 2006|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Westcott |first=Kathryn |date=4 April 2002 |title=Who are Hezbollah? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1908671.stm |access-date=23 September 2024 |work=BBC News}}</ref> whereas Diaz and Newman maintain that Hezbollah remained an amalgamation of various violent Shi'a extremists until as late as 1985.<ref>Diaz & Newman, 2005, p. 55</ref> Another version states that it was formed by supporters of Sheikh [[Ragheb Harb]], a leader of the southern Shia resistance killed by Israel in 1984.<ref>Helena Cobban, Boston Review [http://bostonreview.net/BR30.2/cobban.html Hizbullah's New Face] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712050456/http://bostonreview.net/BR30.2/cobban.html |date=12 July 2009 }} Accessed 14 August 2006</ref> Regardless of when the name came into official use, a number of Shi'a groups were slowly assimilated into the organization, such as [[Islamic Jihad Organization|Islamic Jihad]], [[Organization of the Oppressed on Earth]] and the [[Revolutionary Justice Organization]].<ref name="US-Department-of-State-1999" /> These designations are considered to be synonymous with Hezbollah by the US,<ref name="US-Department-of-State-1999">{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2801.htm |title=Background Information on Foreign Terrorist Organizations |publisher=U.S. Department of State |date=1 October 1999 |access-date=25 July 2006 }}</ref> Israel<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1996/4/HIZBULLAH+-+11-Apr-96.htm|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs |title=Hizbullah|date=11 April 1996|access-date=25 July 2006}}</ref> and Canada.<ref name="Canada-Gazette-Part-II-2003">{{cite journal |url=http://www.gazette.gc.ca/archives/p2/2003/2003-02-13-x/pdf/g2-137x1.pdf|journal=Canada Gazette Part II|title=SOR/2003-53: Criminal Code; Regulations Amending the Regulations Establishing a List of Entities|volume=137|issue=1 extra|page=1|date=12 February 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118214555/http://www.gazette.gc.ca/archives/p2/2003/2003-02-13-x/pdf/g2-137x1.pdf|archive-date=18 January 2012}}</ref>

According to [[Robert Fisk]]<ref name="PitytheNation">{{cite book |last1=Fisk |first1=Robert |author-link1=Robert Fisk |title=Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280130-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VrXpeELOUNsC}}</ref> and Israeli General Shimon Shapira<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shapira|first1=Shimon|date=2020-08-10|title=Inside the Struggle Between Israel and Hezbollah|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/struggle-israel-hezbollah|access-date=2024-03-14|website=[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]]}}</ref> the date of 8 June 1982, two days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when 50 [[Shia Islam|Shiite]] militants ambushed an [[Israel Defense Forces]] armored convoy in [[Khalde]] south of Beirut, is considered by Hezbollah as the founding myth of their [[Hezbollah armed strength|military wing]]. It was in this battle, delaying the Israeli advance to Beirut for six days, that the future Hezbollah military chief [[Mustafa Badreddine]] made his name as a serious commander.<ref>{{cite news |date=2016-05-20 |title=Hezbollah chief marking one week since Badreddine's killing: Mustafa was the first to fight Israeli military in Khalde battle |url=https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/breaking-news/265367/hezbollah-chief-marking-one-week-since-badreddines/en |url-access=subscription |work=LBC International}}</ref> According to Shapira, the lightly armed Shia fighters managed to capture an Israeli armored vehicle on that day and paraded it in the Revolutionary Guards' [[forward operating base]] in [[Baalbek]], Eastern Lebanon. Fisk writes:

<blockquote>Down at Khalde, a remarkable phenomenon had taken shape. The Shia militiamen were running on foot into the Israeli gunfire to launch grenades at the Israeli armour, actually moving to within 20 feet of the tanks to open fire at them. Some of the Shia fighters had torn off pieces of their shirts and wrapped them around their heads as bands of martyrdom as the [[IRGC|Iranian revolutionary guards]] had begun doing a year before when they staged their first mass attacks against the [[Iraqi Army|Iraqis]] in the [[Iran-Iraq War|Gulf War a thousand miles to the east]]. When they set fire to one Israeli armoured vehicle, the gunmen were emboldened to advance further. None of us, I think, realised the critical importance of the events of Khalde that night. The Lebanese Shia were learning the principles of martyrdom and putting them into practice. Never before had we seen these men wear headbands like this; we thought it was another militia affectation but it was not. It was the beginning of a legend which also contained a strong element of truth. The Shia were now the Lebanese resistance, nationalist no doubt but also inspired by their religion. The party of God – in Arabic, the Hezbollah – were on the beaches of Khalde that night.<ref name="PitytheNation"/></blockquote>

=== 1980s ===
{{Main|Lebanese civil war|South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)}}

Hezbollah emerged in [[South Lebanon]] during a consolidation of [[Shia Islam in Lebanon|Shia]] militias as a rival to the older [[Amal Movement]]. Hezbollah played a significant role in the Lebanese civil war, opposing [[Multinational Force in Lebanon|American forces in 1982–83]] and opposing Amal and [[Syria]] during the 1985–88 [[War of the Camps]]. However, Hezbollah's early primary focus was ending Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon<ref name="bbc-hi-me2"/> following Israel's 1982 invasion and siege of Beirut.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shlaim |first=Avi |date=2001 |title=The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World |publisher=[[W.W. Norton]] |isbn=978-0-393-32112-8 |chapter=The Lebanese Quagmire 1981–1984 |pages=384–423}}</ref> Amal, the main Lebanese Shia political group, initiated [[guerrilla warfare]]. In 2006, former Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]] stated, "When we entered Lebanon ... there was no Hezbollah. We were accepted with perfumed rice and flowers by the Shia in the south. It was our presence there that created Hezbollah."<ref name=AN33>{{cite book|last=Norton|first=Augustus|title=Hezbollah: A Short History|year=2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-13124-5|page=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0MZOnnu8qcC&q=Hezbollah%20a%20short%20history&pg=PP1}}</ref>

Hezbollah waged an [[asymmetric war]] using [[Istishhad|suicide attacks]] against the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF) and Israeli targets outside of Lebanon.<ref name="pape">{{cite book |last=Pape |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Pape |title=Dying to win: the strategic logic of suicide terrorism |location=New York |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4000-6317-8 |year=2005 |url=https://archive.org/details/dyingtowinstrate00pape }} Specifically: "Suicide Terrorist Campaigns, 1980–2003", Appendix 1. (p. 253 of Australian paperback edition, published by Scribe Publications)</ref> Hezbollah is reputed to have been among the first Islamic resistance groups in the Middle East to use the tactics of suicide bombing, assassination, and capturing foreign soldiers,<ref name="nybooks"/> as well as murders<ref name="HCR190" /> and hijackings.<ref name="Timeline: Lebanon">{{cite news|title=Lebanon profile|date=3 September 2013|access-date=5 September 2013|publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14649284}}</ref> Hezbollah also employed more conventional military tactics and weaponry, notably [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha rockets]] and other missiles.<ref name="HCR190">{{cite web |url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c101:H.CON.RES.190: |publisher=[[The Library of Congress]] |date=4 August 1989 |access-date=8 August 2006 |title=Expressing the sense of the Congress over the reported murder of Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins and Hezbollah-sponsored terrorism. |author=H. CON. RES. 190, 1st session 101st congress |archive-date=4 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704232744/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c101:H.CON.RES.190: }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Harnden |first=Tony |title=Video games attract young to Hizbollah |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/21/whizb21.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/02/21/ixworld.html |access-date=20 October 2012 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=21 February 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721222037/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F02%2F21%2Fwhizb21.xml&sSheet=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F02%2F21%2Fixworld.html |archive-date=21 July 2006 |location=London }}</ref> At the end of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990, despite the [[Taif Agreement]] asking for the "disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias", [[Syria]], which controlled Lebanon at that time, allowed Hezbollah to maintain their arsenal and control Shia areas along the border with Israel.<ref name="In the Party of God" />

=== After 1990 ===
In the 1990s, Hezbollah transformed from a revolutionary group into a political one, in a process which has been described as the "Lebanonization" of Hezbollah. Unlike its uncompromising revolutionary stance in the 1980s, Hezbollah conveyed a lenient stance towards the Lebanese state.<ref name=magnus98>Ranstorp (1998)</ref>

In 1992, Hezbollah decided to participate in elections, and [[Ali Khamenei]], [[Supreme Leader of Iran|supreme leader of Iran]], endorsed it. Former Hezbollah secretary general, [[Subhi al-Tufayli]], contested this decision, which led to a schism in Hezbollah. Hezbollah won all twelve seats which were on its electoral list. At the end of that year, Hezbollah began to engage in dialog with Lebanese Christians. Hezbollah regards cultural, political, and religious freedoms in Lebanon as sanctified, although it does not extend these values to groups who have relations with Israel.<ref>Alagha (2006), pp. 41–44</ref>

In 1997, Hezbollah formed the multi-confessional [[Lebanese Resistance Brigades|Lebanese Brigades to Fight the Israeli Occupation]] in an attempt to revive national and secular resistance against Israel, thereby marking the "Lebanonization" of resistance.<ref>Alagha (2006), p. 47</ref>

=== Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) ===
Whether the [[Islamic Jihad Organization]] (IJO) was a ''[[nom de guerre]]'' used by Hezbollah or a separate organization, is disputed. According to certain sources, IJO was identified as merely a "telephone organization",<ref>Marius Deeb, "Militant Islamic Movements in Lebanon: Origins, Social Basis, and Ideology", Occasional Paper Series (Washington, DC, Georgetown University, 1986) p. 19</ref><ref>al-Nahar, 7 September 1985</ref> and whose name was "used by those involved to disguise their true identity".<ref>''al-Nahar al-Arabi'', 10 June</ref><ref>''Ma'aretz'', 16 December 1983</ref><ref>''Le Point'', 30 July 1987</ref><ref>''al-Shira'', 28 August 1988</ref><ref>''Nouveau Magazine'', 23 July 1988</ref> Hezbollah reportedly also used another name, "Islamic Resistance" (''al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya''), for attacks against Israel.<ref name=magnus97>Ranstorp (1997)</ref>{{rp|67}}

A 2003 American court decision found IJO was the name used by Hezbollah for its attacks in Lebanon, parts of the Middle East and Europe.<ref>see also {{cite web|title=Anne Dammarell et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran|url=http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/01-2224.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231142249/http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/01-2224.pdf|archive-date=31 December 2005|author=Bates, John D. (Presiding)|date=September 2003|location=District of Columbia, U.S.|publisher=The United States District Court for the District of Columbia |access-date=21 September 2006}}</ref> The US,<ref name="USDbackground2801" /> Israel<ref name="mfaGOV960411" /> and Canada<ref name="Canada-Gazette-Part-II-2003"/> consider the names "Islamic Jihad Organization", "Organization of the Oppressed on Earth" and the "Revolutionary Justice Organization" to be synonymous with Hezbollah.

===Axis of Resistance===
The group receives substantial financial and military backing from [[Iran]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-24 |title=What is Hezbollah, the group battling Israel in Lebanon? |url=https://apnews.com/article/what-is-hezbollahisrael-lebanon-b4daa0a6084df27099cef45b59120034 |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Hezbollah? Lebanon's militant group has long been one of Israel's biggest foes |website=ABC News |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/hezbollah-lebanese-militant-group/story?id=103864740 |access-date=2024-10-10}}</ref> positioning itself as the leading member of the "[[Axis of Resistance]]", an alliance in opposition to [[Israel]] and [[Westernization|Western influence]] in the Middle East.<ref name="Hubbard-2024">{{Cite news |last1=Hubbard |first1=Ben |last2=Rubin |first2=Alissa J. |date=30 September 2024 |title=Facing a Big Test, Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' Flails |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/world/middleeast/iran-axis-of-resistance.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Following the outcome of the [[Israeli invasion of Lebanon (2024–present)]], the [[2024 Syrian opposition offensives]], the downfall of the [[Ba'athist Syria|Assad regime]] and the weakening of the [[Axis of Resistance]], Hezbollah has withdrawn the majority of its military infrastructure from southern Lebanon, transferring control to the Lebanese army.<ref name="middleeasteye20250412">{{Cite web |title=Hezbollah withdraws from majority of military sites in southern Lebanon |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hezbollah-withdraws-majority-military-sites-southern-lebanon |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Azizi |first=Arash |date=2025-02-25 |title=The Axis of Resistance Keeps Getting Smaller |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/02/iraq-leaving-irans-axis/681825/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Al-Atrush |first=Samer |date=2025-04-07 |title=Why Trump threats have cowed Tehran's axis of resistance in Iraq |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/donald-trump-threats-iran-iraq-fw86893m9?utm_source=chatgpt.com&region=global |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2025 |title=Exclusive: Iran-backed militias in Iraq ready to disarm to avert Trump wrath |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-backed-militias-iraq-ready-disarm-avert-trump-wrath-2025-04-07/?utm_source=chatgpt.com}}</ref> This move aligns with the November 2024 U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement, which mandates Hezbollah's repositioning north of the Litani River and the deployment of approximately 5,000 Lebanese troops to the south. The withdrawal aims to reduce tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border and facilitate the return of displaced civilians. While Hezbollah has removed heavy weaponry, some fighters from southern villages remain with light arms. The situation remains delicate, with ongoing monitoring by international observers to ensure compliance with the ceasefire terms.<ref name="middleeasteye20250412" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=What does the US-brokered truce ending Israel-Hezbollah fighting include |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/what-does-us-brokered-truce-ending-israel-hezbollah-fighting-include-2024-11-27/?utm_source=chatgpt.com}}</ref>