Editing Hezbollah (section)

=== The beginning of its military activities: the South Lebanon conflict ===
{{Main|South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000)}}
Hezbollah has been involved in several cases of armed conflict with Israel: during the 1982–2000 South Lebanon conflict, Hezbollah waged a guerrilla campaign against Israeli forces occupying Southern Lebanon. In 1982, the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) was based in Southern Lebanon and was firing Katyusha rockets into northern Israel from Lebanon. Israel invaded Lebanon to evict the PLO, and Hezbollah became an armed organization to expel the Israelis.<ref name="In the Party of God" /> Hezbollah's strength was enhanced by the dispatching of one thousand to two thousand members of the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Iranian Revolutionary Guards]] and the financial backing of Iran.<ref name="lebarmy6915">{{cite web|url=http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/article.asp?ln=en&id=6915 |author=Nizar Abdel-Kader |work=Lebanese Army Magazine |title=Iraq and the Future of Gulf Security Cooperation: A Lebanese perspective |access-date=25 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060404030400/http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/article.asp?ln=en&id=6915 |archive-date=4 April 2006 }}</ref><ref>Third World Quarterly, Vol 14, No 2, 1993, reprinted at Al Mashriq [http://almashriq.hiof.no/ddc/projects/pspa/hamzeh2.html Lebanon's Hizbullah: from Islamic revolution to parliamentary accommodation] Accessed 26 July 2006</ref><ref>Rex A. Hudson, [https://fas.org/irp/threat/frd.html "The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?"], Federal Research Division, Library of Congress (September 1999). Retrieved 17 August 2006</ref>

Iranian clerics, most notably Fzlollah Mahallati supervised this activity.<ref>Nasr, Vali, ''The Shia Revival'', Norton, (2006), p. 115</ref> It became the main politico-military force among the Shia community in Lebanon and the main arm of what became known later as the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon. With the collapse of the [[South Lebanon Army|SLA]], and the rapid advance of Hezbollah forces, Israel withdrew on 24 May 2000 six weeks before the announced 7 July date."<ref name="Timeline: Lebanon" />

Hezbollah held a victory parade, and its popularity in Lebanon rose.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_2496000/2496423.stm|title=2000: Hezbollah celebrates Israeli retreat|date=26 May 2000|access-date=25 July 2006}}</ref> Israel withdrew in accordance with 1978's [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 425]].<ref name="SC/6878" /> Hezbollah and many analysts considered this a victory for the movement, and since then its popularity has been boosted in Lebanon.<ref name="BBC News" />