Hezbollah, which has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces since October, last fought Israel in 2006 and has since expanded its domestic and regional influence politically and militarily.
Financed and armed by Iran, Hezbollah is the most prominent actor in the so-called Axis of Resistance – the regional pro-Tehran armed group opposing Israel, which also includes the Palestinian group Hamas, the Iraqi movement and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah has launched cross-border attacks from Lebanon aimed at tying up Israeli military resources in support of its Palestinian ally.
Fears of a full-blown war have grown after Hezbollah vowed to avenge an Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs last month that killed a key commander, Fuad Shukr, and Iran vowed to avenge the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which was blamed on Israel.
Hezbollah–Israel War
Hezbollah, which means “Party of God” in Arabic, was founded during Lebanon’s civil war when Israel besieged the capital, Beirut, in 1982, and has since become a major domestic political player.
The Shia Muslim movement, founded at the initiative of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, gained its name as “the Resistance” by fighting Israeli troops who occupied southern Lebanon until 2000.
A month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in July–August 2006 left about 1,200 people dead in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 dead in Israel, most of them soldiers, after the group kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 ended that conflict and called for the Lebanese Army and United Nations peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in south Lebanon.
But Hezbollah maintains a clandestine presence there, where it enjoys widespread support and experts say it likely has a network of underground tunnels.
On August 16, the group released a video showing underground tunnels and large missile launchers, but did not reveal their location.
The group also has a strong presence in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border.
Hezbollah has bolstered its powerful arsenal, including guided missiles, and says it can count on more than 100,000 fighters.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was elected secretary general in 1992 after Israel assassinated his predecessor, and rarely appears in public.
Hezbollah’s regional influence
Hezbollah is a major actor in the Middle East, where it plays a central role in the “axis of resistance.” It has supported and trained Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have claimed responsibility for attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping interests since October.
Hezbollah is also present in Syria, where many of its members have fought in support of President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war. Damascus is also an ally of Tehran.
Domestically, Hezbollah is the only Lebanese faction to have retained its weapons following the 1975–1990 civil war, and has done so in the name of “resistance” against Israel.
It is now a major political player, although its critics accuse it of being a “state within a state”.
The country has been unable to elect a new president since late 2022 because of a political deadlock between Hezbollah allies and their opponents, while the country grapples with a severe economic crisis.
Services to Hezbollah
Founded in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah has become dominant throughout Lebanon’s Shia Muslim areas, while its major religious and financial institutions are located in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The movement runs an extensive social service network, including schools, hospitals, emergency responders, and a variety of charitable organizations serving its supporters.
Its distinctive yellow flags and giant portraits of Nasrallah, as well as photos of dead commanders, fighters and people from the “axis of resistance,” adorn areas of the country where it is popular.
The United States has for years considered Hezbollah a “terrorist” organization, and blamed it for several bombings and kidnappings in the 1980s, including one targeting US Marines in Beirut. The European Union applies this classification to the group’s armed wing.
In 2022, a UN-backed court sentenced two Hezbollah members to life imprisonment in absentia for a massive 2005 bombing in Beirut that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
