Hezbollah, between terrorism and regional power

Current events put into perspective every Saturday, thanks to historian Fabrice d’Almeida.

As fighting intensifies on the border between Lebanon and Israel, and the risks of all-out war grow, it is necessary to return to Hezbollah, an organization that has changed a lot over the course of history. Initially, Shiite fighters from southern Lebanon organized a resistance movement against the Israeli occupation of this area in 1982. Supported by Iran, which sent Pasdaran (Iranian Revolutionary Guards) to train and arm them, they constituted a powerful militia.

Very quickly, France learned about these groups that organized the attack against the American (241 dead) and French (58 dead) interposition forces at the Drakar Hotel on October 23, 1983. These terrorist acts were not claimed since at that time, Hezbollah was still operating clandestinely.

Everything changed in 1985, the movement adopted a charter, and became a political-religious organization as much as a heavily armed militia. Iran always provides its support with direct meetings with Ayatollah Khomeini. It was again the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in 1992 dubbed Hassan Nasrallah as leader of Hezbollah, originally from Beirut but identified with southern Lebanon for having lived there for a long time.

Nasrallah maintains Israel as Hezbollah’s number one enemy. But it pushes in a strategy often described as “Lebanonization”, a way of putting down roots in the country, of becoming one with it, even if it means opening its aid, training, charity and even combat institutions to men. from other religious persuasions, as long as they wish to defend Lebanon. The choice of Christian general Michel Aoun to ally with Hezbollah emerges from this strategy.

The victory against Israel in 2006 consolidates this dominant position in Lebanon. The new charter adopted in 2009 at the initiative of Nasrallah, takes note of the developments, but keeps the constitutive principles very much alive. Then, from 2013, at the instigation of Iran, Hezbollah entered the Syrian conflict. It supports the forces of Bashar al-Assad and gives this regime a clear advantage on the ground. To fight Israel, Hezbollah maintains strong relations with Hamas, whose members it has armed and trained since 2017. In short, this terrorist organization has become a regional actor.

To go further, see the thesis of Alain Monnier, “The thought and communication of Hezbollah: a process of Lebanonization”, under the direction of Gilles Ferragu, defended on June 19, 2024, Université Paris-Nanterre, 531 pages.