What is Hezbollah, the group backing Hamas against Israel?
Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel across the border for days, threatening to expand a conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas.
But what is Hezbollah?
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards founded Hezbollah in 1982, in the middle of Lebanon’s civil war.
It was part of Iran’s effort to exports its Islamic Revolution around the region and fight Israeli forces after their invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Hezbollah shares Tehran’s Shi’ite Islamist ideology, and went on to recruit Lebanese Shi’ite Muslims.
The group has risen from a shadowy faction to a heavily armed force with major sway over the Lebanese state.
It has ministers in government and lawmakers in parliament.
Western countries, including the United States, designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
The U.S. holds the group responsible for a suicide bombing that destroyed U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 servicemen.
And Lebanese security officials and Western intelligence have said groups linked to Hezbollah carried out suicide attacks on Western embassies and kidnapped Westerners in the 1980s.
Hezbollah leaders said those attacks were carried out by small groups not linked to Hezbollah.
In 2021, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group had 100,000 fighters.
Iran gives Hezbollah weapons and money.
The U.S. estimates Iran has allocated it hundreds of millions of dollars annually in recent years.
Hezbollah boasts weapons including precision rockets and drones.
It demonstrated its military advances in 2006 during a five-week war with Israel.
It fired thousands of rockets into Israel during the conflict.
1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and more than 150 Israelis were killed, most of them soldiers.
Many Lebanese Shi’ites support Hezbollah, saying the group defends Lebanon from Israel.
However, Lebanese parties opposed to Hezbollah say the group unilaterally drags Lebanon into armed conflicts.
Hezbollah has deep ties to Hamas – another Palestinian faction backed by Iran.
On October 7, the day Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented assault into Israel,
Hezbollah said it was in ‘direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance.’
Since then, Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire with Israel numerous times.
Source » yahoo.com
