Hezbollah
An Emerging Political Force
By Dahr Jamail
20 July, 2006
Inter Press Service
LATAKIA, Syria, Jul
18 (IPS) - Hezbollah, a group often misunderstood by Westerners,
is a militant but also a political group.
The Arabic name means 'Party
of God'. Led by the charismatic Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese
Islamist Shia group was set up in 1982 to resist Israeli occupation
of Lebanon during the brutal civil war. The group declared a political
existence in 1985..
Hezbollah achieved their
goal when Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon on May 25, 2000.
The Israeli withdrawal followed sustained Hezbollah attacks on its troops.
The political platform of
Hezbollah calls for the destruction of Israel, but the group has successfully
transformed itself from a radical extremist group into an effective
political force which holds 18 percent of the seats in the Lebanese
Parliament.
The United States, Britain,
Israel and other Western countries consider Hezbollah a terrorist organisation
that they say has received weapons and also financial and political
support from Iran and Syria. Both these countries deny supplying arms
to Hezbollah.
But both countries openly
support the group politically. Iranian leaders have produced angry rhetoric
in support of Hezbollah. In Syria massive demonstrations were held in
Damascus, Latakia and several other cites. Demonstrations in support
of Hezbollah were also held in cities across many Arab countries.
Throughout most of the Arab
and Muslim world, Hezbollah is highly regarded as a legitimate resistance
movement. The group follows a distinctly Shia Islamist ideology developed
by the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini.
In Lebanon the group had
first hoped to transform the whole country into a fundamentalist Shia
state. But it has now abandoned that objective for a more inclusive
platform.
About 60 percent of the 3.8
million population of Lebanon is Muslim, most of them Shia. This is
where Hezbollah draws its support. The rest of the population is almost
all Christian. A 15-year civil war between Muslim and Christian groups
ended in 1991.
The Shia movement in Iraq
led by Muqtada al-Sadr is following in the footsteps of Hezbollah. It
has won broad support in Iraq from millions of impoverished Shias there
for similar reasons.
Hezbollah won the support
of Shia Muslims by providing social services, healthcare and welfare
when the Lebanese government failed. Hezbollah runs hospitals, news
services and educational facilities for its followers in Lebanon. It
is behind a large number of economic and infrastructure projects in
the country.
The recent Israeli strikes
in Lebanon destroyed the Hezbollah al-Manar Television station. But
the group continues to broadcast messages from Nasrallah by other means.
Hezbollah has refused to
integrate its forces into the Lebanese army despite political pressure.
It considers itself a legitimate resistance movement in Lebanon that
is also important to the entire Middle East region.
Hezbollah has long accused
Israel of holding many of its members in jail, some for more than 20
years, and continues to demand their release. Hezbollah says it will
continue to fight unless its prisoners are also released.
Hezbollah became the most
powerful military force in Lebanon after Syria withdrew its troops last
year. It now has a seat in the Lebanese cabinet.
During the civil war, which
brought Lebanon to its knees, Hezbollah became infamous for its suicide
bombings and kidnapping of Western hostages, primarily journalists.
The biggest Hezbollah suicide
attack was the bombing of the barracks of U.S. marines in Beirut in
1983. The attack killed 241 marines and led then president Ronald Reagan
to withdraw all U.S. troops from the country.
The group is also widely
believed to have carried out an attack on the U.S. embassy, killing
63 people, and on the headquarters of the French multinational forces,
killing 58 French troops.
Hezbollah's political rise
came substantially after the assassination of former Lebanese prime
minister Rafik Harriri in February 2005. In May of that year Hezbollah
won its biggest election victory.
Hezbollah was invited to
join the government in July last year in hope that the move would bring
national unity to Lebanon as the country struggled for stability and
peace.
The current fighting between
Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Israel has left more than 200 Lebanese
dead, along with several Israelis. Both Hezbollah and the government
of Israel have declared open war with one another. International intervention
has been lacklustre to say the least, and the crisis looks set to deepen.
As through its chequered
history, Hezbollah is again winning praise and support from the Arab
and Muslim world, while it is accused of terrorism by the West. Hezbollah
is about the most prominent division points at present between the two
worlds.