Hezbollah

Hezbollah’s 2023-2024 war against Israel

Hezbollah is a radical Shia group ideologically inspired by the Iranian revolution. Its goals are the “liberation” of Jerusalem, the destruction of Israel, and, ultimately, the establishment of a revolutionary Shia Islamic state in Lebanon, modelled after Iran. Formed in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah carried out some of the most infamous terror attacks of the Lebanese civil war, such as the suicide bombings of the barracks of United States Marines and French paratroopers in Beirut, as well as the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. While all other Lebanese militias disarmed at the end of Lebanon’s civil war in 1990, Hezbollah continued to fight, waging a guerilla war against Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon. Following Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah attacks against Israeli forces continued, concentrated on the disputed Shebaa Farms area. In 2006, Hezbollah provoked Israel’s invasion of Lebanon by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing 8 others. On January 3, 2018, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah announced that the group was working “to obtain all kinds of weapons that would enable it to achieve victory in the next war.” In September 2019, Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles into a small farming community along the Lebanese border with Israel.

Further Background:

Formal designations of  Hezbollah as a terrorist organization:

“Military wing” designated as terrorist: