Hezbollah(Party Of God) Terrorist organization (Lebanon) - Research Paper Example

They bore the brunt of the conflict between the Israeli’s and the PLO. As a result, Hezbollah was born initially as an organization and movement designed to oust the Israel’s and their allies from southern Lebanon. There are three main area of Lebanon that Hezbollah can operate from with relative safely. The first is the Beqaa Valley of Eastern Lebanon. This is the traditional home of most Lebanese Shia. It is an agrarian region with a high rate of poverty that borders Syria. Southern Lebanon bordering Israel is another area with a high concentration of Shia Muslims and is a safe haven for Hezbollah.

The final geographic stronghold of Hezbollah is the slum area outside of Beirut. These slums grew as a result of the fighting in southern Lebanon during the Israeli invasion in the 1980’s. The founder of Hezbollah was Sheik Subhi Tufaili. He was educated in Iraq and there was exposed to Islamic Revolution ideology as presented by Shiite leaders from Iran. He brought these ideas to Lebanon and used them to attract disparate Shiite groups in Lebanon. From the joining of these groups, Hezbollah was born.

Internal conflicts between Subhi Tufaili caused his ouster in the early 1990’s. Tufaili was upset that Hezbollah was willing to participate in elections in Lebanon. Replacing Tufaili was the current Secretary General Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. The initial purpose behind the formation of Hezbollah was the removal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. Shiite citizens were bearing the worst of the fighting from the casualties in the conflict between the PLO and the Israeli’s. Armed resistance to Israel and its allies was the central focus of Hezbollah from the start.

Once the Israeli’s withdrew from Lebanon, Hezbollah began to take a more nuanced reason for their existence. They began to present themselves as an Islamist group working to spread the teachings of Islam to the world. They state that they want to show the world that Islam