Hezbollah: a brief history
Updated on 08 August 2006
Hezbollah - meaning Party of God - was formed by a group of Shia Muslim clerics in 1982 in direct response to Israel's occupation of Lebanon in that year. The wider context to its foundation was the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the ensuing upheaval in geopolitical relations in the Middle East.
The Hezbollah flag (Reuters)
Although known primarily as a military, Hezbollah's ideological thrust is Muslim fundamentalist, and the movement seeks to further a way of life based on strict codes of Islamic behaviour.
It follows a version of Shia ideology developed by Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic revolution. Politically, the movement's primary commitment is to defend southern Lebanon against Israeli occupation.
Hezbollah is thought to have been responsible for a series of high-profile terrorist attacks in the 1980s. They include the 1983 suicide bombing of the US barracks in Beirut in which 241 US marines were killed (among the first instances of the use of tactical suicide bombing in the Middle East).
Hezbollah is also believed to have been behind a series of high-profile abductions, including those of journalist John McCarthy, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy Terry Waite and Brian Keenan. Hezbollah has never admitted responsibility for these incidents.
The US government has also alleged that Hezbollah was behind a series of attacks outside the Lebanon during the 1990s, including the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, in which 29 people were killed, and the car-bombing of the Israeli Embassy in London in 1994.
The 1990s saw the beginnings of Hezbollah's participation in mainstream Lebanese politics. In the 1992 Lebanese elections it won 12 out of 128 parliamentary seats. By 2005 it had secured a 27.3 per cent bloc in parliament as a result of its alliance with the pro-Shia Amal Movement, acquiring two cabinet positions as a result.
Although Hezbollah has always enjoyed support among the Lebanese population, its recent mainstream political successes have accorded the movement greater respectability, allowing it to develop a range of social services within Lebanon, as well as several media outlets, including a TV station.
The catalyst for the present Lebanese crisis was a raid inside Israel by Hezbollah on 12 July 2006, in which three Israeli soldiers were killed and two others taken hostage.
Israeli premier Ehud Olmert responded by describing the incursion as 'an act of war', launching a series of Israeli raids inside Lebanon which have moved progressively further inland as the conflict has progressed. By 21 July Israeli airplanes were bombing apartments in southern Beirut.
Critics of Israel's response have pointed to the disproportion between the number of Israelis and Lebanese who have died in the present conflict (the ratio stands at nearly 10:1 in Israel's favour). They also note that despite Israeli claims to target areas inside Lebanon harbouring Hezbollah combatants, Lebanese civilians have thus far born the brunt of the casualties.
