Hezbollah: Background and issues for Congress - Research Paper Example

Hezbollah Submitted: Hezbollah Introduction During the 60s and the 70s, the Islamic society of Shi’a started increasing in numbers and during the 60s Iman Musa Sadr migrated to Lebanon with the aim of becoming an important figure in the Shi’ite society (Addis, 2011). Soon he gained recognition as a supporter of the existence of the Shi’ite population of Lebanon who were experiencing discrimination from the economical and the political front. During that period, an establishment existed with the aim of increasing the power of the Shi’ite in Lebanese government. During the 60s and 70s, he made various moves to help the Shi,ite, these measures includes: creation of academic institutes and health care institutes and was even pat of the Lebanese National Movement (Norton, 2007). Later this great leader was abducted, he was replaced by Husayn Husayni during 1979 and later the leadership of improving the conditions of Shi,ites of Lebanon was shifted in the hands of Nabih Berri (Harel, 2008). Nabih Berri ended up being a disaster for the Shi,ite Muslims of Lebanon and he wasted all the efforts made by Amal to help the Shi,ites of Lebanon. Although Musa believed that the state of Lebanon was a legal state, the other supporters of the Shi’ite population never believed that Lebanon was a legal state. The side of Shi’ite supporters which did not believe that Lebanon was a legal state, joined hands together under the control of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir in Iraq. These individuals decided to create a covert group and named it as Hizb al-Da’wa, this group was created in Lebanon. Body Why Was Hezbollah Created There are several reasons that led to the creation of Hezbollah, one of the reason of the development of this group was that when Lebanon came into existence during 1943, the Shi’ite Muslim population felt that they were not considered as an important part of the state and they were amongst the minorities, thus they were ready to accept and admit the creation of a group that could protect their rights (Harik, 2004). The Shi’ite population had little say in the government and their weak stand in the government was evident through the lower number of positions awarded to them in the military and the legal and the executive areas of the government. During 1946, the alliance of Christian Maronites and the Sunni Muslims were able to occupy 67% of the civilian positions within the government and the Shi’ite population was able to only occupy 3.2% of the total number of positions (Azani, 2009). During the 80s, Shi’ites population totalled to fourteen hundred thousand, on the other hand the addition of both the Christian and the Sunni population only totalled to eight hundred thousand. The Shi’ite Muslims felt that although they were the majority, they were being suppressed and they did not have equal representation in the government. The Shi’ite population was even very weak economically; the 85% of the population lived in the rural areas and lived on the returns obtained from selling vegetable and tobacco. Israel was of view that if they will defeat Lebanon and the power of Lebanon will be entirely in the hands of the Christians, peace and harmony between Israel and Lebanon will be restored (Brennen, 2009). This view fired back as the Shi’ites of Lebanon was not in favour of this view. The Israelis killed huge numbers of Shi’ites and several of the Shi’ites population fled to the refugee camps of the slums of Beirut. The takeover of the Lebanon gave way to the creation of a group that solely supported the Shi’ites of the state. The group recognized as Hezbollah even held the view that it was completely legal to fight the forces of Israelis and the US forces of US Marines. Hezbollah Activities There are no hard facts, but Hezbollah is said to have a separate sector for military actions and is said to be funding and controlling various other military movements who are not as strong as Hezbollah itself. These military movements may include: The Followers of The Prophet Mohammad, the Organization of right against wrong and the Revolutionary Justice Organization and many others. A resolution was put in place by the United Nations with an agreement with the Taif to reduce the military towards the end of the civil war of Lebanon, but Hezbollah stood against this agreement and resolution. Hezbollah has been a controversial subject since the end of the civil war, the controversy escalated since the military tensions of 2006 between Israel and Lebanon. After the military tensions of 2006, Shi’ites of the population of Lebanon are clearly of the view that the strength of weapons owned by Hezbollah is legit and they should not decrease this strength, where as the Christians and the Sunni side of Lebanon believe otherwise. During the period of 82 and 86, over thirty six suicide bomb attacks have taken place in Lebanon, all these attacks were made on the armed forces of Israel, France and America, these attacks are said to be done by 41 individuals connected to Hezbollah, although the covert network has never taken the responsibility of conducting these attacks. One such attack killed over two hundred and forty one marines of the US marine forces, along with 6 common civilians and fifty eight paratroopers of the French forces, this attack took place in Beirut and the Islamic Jihad Organization who is said to be supported by Hezbollah was held responsible for the attack. Hezbollah has been accused to conduct several operations which led to mass murder and killing and the leaders of the covert network has always denied their involvement. During 1992, they were accused to kill 29 individuals in Argentina when an attack on the embassy of the Israelis was conducted, they were even held responsible for killing 85 individuals when an attack on the cultural centres of the Jews took place during 1994 in Argentina, they were even held responsible for hiring Singaporeans for plotting an attack on the Israeli and the US ships in Singapore, in 2008 they were even held responsible for attacking the embassy of US in Beirut and they have been blamed for conducting several such attacks. Measures to Counter Hezbollah Hezbollah is only accused of conducting various operations of bombing and mass killings; on the other hand efforts have been made to counter the existence and the stance of Hezbollah. During 1985 an attempt to assassinate the leader of Hezbollah named Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah was made but this attempt completely failed. During 1989, the Israeli troops kidnapped another leader of Hezbollah named Sheikh Abdul Karim Obedi, later the resolution to stop kidnapping and taking hostage of individuals from Hezbollah side and Israeli side was put in place y the United Nations. Around four unknown individuals along with the great leader of Hezbollah, Abbas al-Musawi and his family were killed when Israel launched an attack on their motorcade through helicopter attacks (Lambeth, 2011). During 2008 another leader of the covert network named Imad Mughnieh was put to sleep in Syria through a car bomb attack. Various nations including Islamic nations have accepted and listed the network as a terrorist group, though its existence as a terrorist group or a political party or a resistance regime has never been proved and only allegations have been levied on them. United States have made several moves to combat Hezbollah and to stop their activities which according to them are terrorist activities. During 1995, the covert network was recognized as a (SDT) Specially Designated Terrorist group, in 1997 they were recognized as FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organization, in 2001 they gain recognition as SDGT (Specially Designated Global Terrorist) organization (Diaz, 2005). Along with Hezbollah, various individuals that are part of the network and the organizations that provide financial aid to the organization have even been recognized as terrorist organizations and terrorizing individuals by the United States of America. US even levied sanctions and prohibited funding to the Hezbollah and even targeted Syria and Iran as they were supposed to be the ones aiding Hezbollah in helping them in spreading violence and terrorism in Lebanon. US is even supporting the United Nations for the bill they have passed to disarm Hezbollah and other such expected terrorist organizations, Iran has been banned from supplying weapons to Lebanon and other states (Rollins, 2010). Congress is even pushing hard to get Hezbollah recognized by the European Union to limit the media and military activities of the group. Conclusion The United States is facing security threats; they believe that if they make moves against Iran or any other Islamic group, suspected terrorist organizations such as the Hezbollah will disturb the peace of US and launch attack on the US. Hezbollah has never clearly exhibited the weapons and defence systems they are controlling but leaders of this network have stated that they are more powerful than they were during the Civil War of 2006. It is clearly visible that Hezbollah is quite a force because it is providing and taking care of huge number of Shi’ite population of the Lebanon. References Addis, C. L., Blanchard, C. M., & Library of Congress. (2011). Hezbollah: Background and issues for Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Brennen, L. M., & NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA. (2009). Hezbollah: Psychological Warfare Against Israel. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center. Norton, A. R. (2007). Hezbollah: A short history. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Harel, A., & Isacharoff, A. (2008). 34 days: Israel, Hezbollah, and the war in Lebanon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Harik, J. P. (2004). Hezbollah: The changing face of terrorism. London: I.B. Tauris. Lambeth, B. S., & Project Air Force (U.S.). (2011). Air operations in Israels war against Hezbollah: Learning from Lebanon and getting it right in Gaza. Santa Monica CA: RAND. Azani, E., & Palgrave Connect (Online service). (2009). Hezbollah: The story of the party of God : from Revolution to institutionalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Diaz, T., & Newman, B. (2005). Lightning out of Lebanon: Hezbollah terrorists on American soil. New York: Ballantine Books. Rollins, J., Wyler, L. S., Rosen, S., Library of Congress., & Federation of American Scientists. (2010). International terrorism and transnational crime: Security threats, US policy, and considerations for Congress. Washington, D.C.?: Congressional Research Service. Read More