The rise of revolutionary organizations like Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah has become a serious concern for international security. As a result, the international peacekeeping forces are now focusing on preventing the spread of these organizations and their beliefs around the globe. For instance, the US Federal government declared a "incessant fight" against all terrorist groups in the world following the September 2001 terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City, both as a result of its status as a global superpower and as retaliation for the frequent terror attacks and bombings the nation had endured (Shalabi, 2015). In order to effectively combat these terrorist groups, it is necessary that background research be conducted on their ideologies, organization and funding, and main purpose of formation and existence. Therefore, this paper is dedicated to a holistic analysis of the Hezbollah group; key ideologies that motivate its existence, its organization and funding, and how these two features evolve with evolution in global security (Azani, 2013).
Formation and purpose of existence
Hezbollah was formed early in 1985 following the invasion of Israeli forces in Lebanon to support the acclaimed Free Lebanon state. Formation of Hezbollah was an idea initially conceived by Islamic scholars and clerics, and later on aided by the State of Iran. The state of Iran, under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, was the principal funder of the Hezbollah organization. Other than providing financial aid, Iran also provided training to Hezbollah revolutionary fighters. Hezbollah primarily focused on the harassment of the Israeli invaders so as of force them out of Lebanon and provide give freedom to their people. According to a manifesto released by Hezbollah, other than driving the Israeli invaders out of Lebanon, the organization also aimed at expelling all French, Americans, and their respective allies from Lebanon so as to bring to an end the colonial entities from Muslim land.
Organization and Development
Decision-making system
In the Hezbollah regime, all critical decisions are made by the Shura Council which is also the body that governs the entire Hezbollah regime. The Shura Council is headed by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who is also considered as Hezbollah’s supreme political figure. Nine decision-making personnel (Shia clerics) make up the Shura Council; two representatives from Iran and seven Lebanese Shia clerics. The two Iranian clerics mainly serve the role of facilitating strategic assistance from Iran especially in matters requiring critical decision making.
Political Organization
Since its establishment in the year 1992, Hezbollah saw it necessary to establish a political wing that would actively represent the interest of the Shiite Muslim community in the government of Lebanon. For that matter, the organization acquired the Amal party as its key political ally (Shalabi, 2015). The regime’s strategic organization has allowed it to have significant powers in the Lebanon’s government. In the year 2005, for instance, a re-election conducted following the death of Lebanon’s Prime Ministersaw the Hezbollah scoop a whooping thirty-five seats in parliament. Representation in the Lebanon’s government is one in which the Hezbollah acquires legitimacy (Azani, 2013).
Military Organization
Hezbollah’s military capability comprises of three key operational elements; guerilla warfare, recruitment and training, and security enhancement. During recruitment and training, prospective guerilla warriors are identified and selected from the Shia dominated communities of South Lebanon and indoctrinated into the system (Azani, 2013). The selected warriors are then given necessary training and skills in weaponry, combat skills, medical support, and marksmanship. The combat system is further made up of four elements; martyrs (suicide bombers), elite commanders, rocket launchers, and regular fighters (Rudner, 2010).
Hezbollah also has the capability to engage in electronic warfare which mainly entails jamming opponents’ communication networks to make them vulnerable to its guerilla attacks. In 2006, Hezbollah successfully jammed communication networks belonging to Israel’s intelligence by intercepting fiber optic cables and other methods of electronic communication.
Communications and Propaganda outlets
In order to consolidate support of interested Shia Muslims from countries other than Lebanon, Hezbollah requires a means of communicating their propaganda. As a result, the organization acquired the Al-Manah Television station in 1991, and a radio station (Al-Nour) in 1990. Hezbollah has mainly used these media outlets as tools to spread violence and hatred towards the Jews and Americans as well as to provide support and guidance to their terrorist functions. The use of violent language and hate speech against their target enemies has influenced a majority of Muslim youths in Europe and the rest of the world (Rudner, 2010).
Socio-economic organization
Since Hezbollah receives a significant amount of funding from Syrian and Iranian governments, it has been able to conduct a wide range of social development welfare programs and philanthropic activities which are mainly directed towards the impoverished within the Shia community. However, these welfare programs are not genuinely conducted to fight poverty in Lebanon but rather to establish the organization’s legitimacy in the public domain while empowering the Shia community of Lebanon and reinforcing its allegiance to Iran (Shalabi, 2015). Hezbollah mainly takes advantage of the impoverished Shia communities to win their political support. Services that it provides to these communities include children’s homes, medical facilities and services, and schools (Azani, 2013).
Hezbollah has a well-organized system for delivery of these services. There are departments which are charged with delivery of specific services to the Shia community. For instance, the Education Department runs education centers and schools, the Philanthropic Association establishes and manages welfare organizations, and Health Department provides health facilities and services to the Shia community. Among the beneficiaries of Hezbollah’s aid, families of ‘Hezbollah martyrs’ are given much priority. The Al-Shahid Association offers financial support to such families as a way to compensate for the loss of their relatives (Azani, 2013).
Funding
(Rudner, 2010) estimates that Hezbollah’s annual budget amounts to approximately $500 million. Of this budget, Iranian and Syrian governments contribute approximately $100 million. This percentage is directed to the procurement of weapons and militia group salaries as well as compensation to war victims’ families. Hezbollah does not, however, wholly depend on Iranian and other governments for their funding. It also acquires more money from charitable fund-raising in Lebanon, an event during which potential individual financiers who feel that Hezbollah’s goals are legitimate contribute funds to aid achievement of these goals. Other ways through which the organization manages to raise its stunning $500 million budget include legitimate business activities, forced tax on businesses located within the Shia community, criminal activities (drug trafficking and smuggling), and enforced government transfers (Rudner, 2010).
Ideologies
Anti-Zionism and anti-Judaism
The Hezbollah organization views Israel as a project regime that has been purposely implanted in the Muslim world by the West to destabilize peace in the Middle East. This is because; the territories currently occupied by Israel were initially land that belonged to the Palestinians, whom the Hezbollah refer to as “our Muslim brothers.” Israel forcefully established itself as a state in a land which initially belonged to the Muslim community (Shalabi, 2015) and hence, Hezbollah was legitimately formed to completely wipe out the Jewish nation from Islamic land in an n effort to administer justice to the displaced Palestinians who are considered Hezbollah’s “Muslim brother.” The formation of the State of Israel took place in the year 1948 in what is generally recognized as a prophetic restoration and gathering of the Jewish nation (Azani, 2013). This is generally perceived as an insult, an injustice, and a heinous act to the Muslim community which Israel opts to pay with blood. As a solution to this problem, Hezbollah proposes the entire elimination of the state of Israel from Muslim land (Shalabi, 2015).
Other than instituting an avenge against the state of Israel for the injustice they committed against Palestinians, Hezbollah also aims at executing a revenge against Israel for its invasion of Lebanon in support of the Free state of Lebanon which the founders of the Hezbollah regime viewed as “a corrupt and tyrant political regime.” While Israel had presumably established itself as a Jewish non-Muslim entity in a land that exclusively belongs to the Muslim community, it reportedly went further and waged war on the Muslim community by sending its forces to Lebanon during the Second Lebanon war. This made the Hezbollah to label Israel as a “menace to not only Lebanon nor Hezbollah, but the entire Middle East at large.” Therefore, Hezbollah’s proposed solution to this problem that has implanted itself in the Middle East in the name of a “prophetic gathering” of the Jewish people is an incessant fight and resistance against Israel until the nation is completely annihilated (Azani, 2013).
The Oppressors and the Oppressed
The Hezbollah regime is also constructed on the ideology of the oppressors and the oppressed. According to the Hezbollah, the world is divided along two major divisions of ‘the oppressed’ and ‘the oppressors’ as spelt out in the Quran. This ideology can be considered an overarching concept in the political formation and ideology of the Hezbollah. The oppressors refers to the West (particularly America), Israel, and their respective allies (Gabrielsen, 2014). The Western States, in collusion with the Israeli government, are main perpetrators of the brutal capitalist ideas. The Hezbollah refer to capitalism as ‘brutal ideas’ because it negates the very core tenets of Islamic religion by preaching competition rather than cooperation and encouraging the creation of monopolistic multinational corporations which continue to dominate the entire world (Shalabi, 2015). Generally, Islamic Sharia is against the concept of individuals and groups competing in order to gain economic, social, and political dominance over others but rather, creation of a system in which humanity collaboratively works to support each other and not compete with each hence ensuring collective socio-economic development.
How Hezbollah evolves with security
Hezbollah’s tactics undergo significant evolution depending on prevailing global counter-terrorism measures. First, one of the ways in which international bodies such as the UN combat terrorism is restricted sale of weaponry to suspicious merchants. Iran, the main funder of Hezbollah, acquired some of its weaponry from European countries. However, with restricted access to these weapons in the early 1980s, Iran decided to establish its own weaponry manufacturing systems. Even though this strategy sparked harsh response from the United States (especially in the famous Iran Nuclear Deal), it was a strategy that has finally born fruit to Iran and hence the Hezbollah as key beneficiaries (Jackson, 2009).
Secondly, the phase of communication is a key area in which terror combatants focus their effort. In response to strategies of electronic communication spoofing and interception (often employed by counter-terrorism combatants), the Hezbollah organization decide to resort to the ancient method of relying on human couriers as channels of communication that linked the mother organization to its splinter groups all over the world. The Hezbollah adapted this strategy following the massive of arrest of key Al-Qaeda master-minds (Gabrielsen, 2014).
Conclusion
The Hezbollah is an organization which is mainly founded on the ideologies of anti-Zionism, anti-Judaism, and anti-West (anti-imperialism). As the names of the ideological basis suggest, it is purely a resistance group whose aim is to eliminate America and Israel because of perceived injustices committed against the Muslim community. In order to execute this purpose, the organization has been backed by Iran and Syria, which act as its main source of funding. From the analysis of this organization, two key insights can be derived. First, it is an illegitimate organization (a terrorist group) masquerading as a group whose intent is to protect the rights of the Muslim community. Secondly, the organization is basically a disruption to global peace and security as its strategies evolve with evolution in global security. It is also growing at a rapid pace and could pose a significant threat to global security in a few decades to come. The international community should therefore device ways, including use of force, to get rid of the group before it grows into an international terror group alongside al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab (Shalabi, 2015).
References
Gabrielsen, I. (2014). The evolution of Hezbollah's strategy and military performance, 1982–2006. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 25(2), 257-283.
Shalabi, S. (2015). Hezbollah: Ideology, Practice, and the Arab Revolts-Between popular legitimacy and strategic interests.
Rudner, M. (2010). Hizbullah: An Organizational and Operational Profile. International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, 23(2), 226-246.
Azani, E. (2013). The hybrid terrorist organization: Hezbollah as a case study. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 36(11), 899-916.
Jackson, M. T. (2009). Hezbollah: Organizational development, ideological evolution, and a relevant threat model. Georgetown University.
We will email this sample to you with pleasure!
Type your email