Journal
N° 31
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Hezbollah
The position of the European Union is contrasted: through the vote of the President of the Union which took placed on August 1, 2006, the European Union indicated that Hezbollah will not be registered on the list of terrorist organizations; however, the European Union Council included the superior officer of informational services of the Hezbollah, Imad Fa'iz Mughniyah (alias Mughniyah, Imad Fayiz) on the list of terrorists. This classification is restricting but does not concern the civil branch of the Party and its armed branch situated within Lebanon. Regarding the movement considered in its entirety, the European Union Council has up until now judged that Hezbollah did not enroll itself among the other terrorist movements, in spite of several of the United States' demands. Certain European diplomats estimate that the last refusal of March, 2005, to enroll Hezbollah on the list of terrorist movements was motivated by the fact that the European Union does not wish, during this period of instability in Lebanon, to aggravate the situation. Unlike the European Union Council, on March 10, 2005 the European Parliament adopted (473 votes for and 33 against) a declarative and non-constraining resolution for the member States qualifying Hezbollah as a terrorist group (“7. Consider that there exists irrefutable proof of the terrorist actions of the Hezbollah group and that it is convenient that the Council take any possible measure to put an end to it.”) The Organization of United Nations does not classify Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations but the Security Council of the UN calls for its disarmament. Hezbollah is held responsible for numerous western hostage situations, mainly diplomats, journalists, and Israeli soldiers in the 1980s, and the orchestration of spectacularly murderous attacks against the present western forces in Lebanon at this time. They delight in popularity in the Arab-Muslim world for having contributed in the Israel retreat in South Lebanon in June of 2000. This group is inspired by the principle of the velayat-e faqih, that is, the primacy of theologians (velayat-e faqih signifies “government of the learned”) in the Shiite community, which is presently surrounded in controversy.
Ties with Iran The Hezbollah is rooted in history. Nevertheless, the “Lebanon-ization” of the movement is being carried out, beginning at the end of tensions linked with the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 and then during the participation of the Lebanese elections in 1992. Iran, however, furnishes the Hezbollah group with financial means, with arms, and influences its decisions. Teheran still demands a part of its support. From its side, Hezbollah considers itself to be primarily an Islamist group desiring to reestablish an Islamist Republic like Iran and is tempted to dissociate itself from its original filiations. The influence of Iran on the decisional process passes through the Guide of the Revolution. He intervenes on the strategic decisions but allows above all the local leaders to, in their own turn, give a stronger legitimacy, notably when facing the internal opposition. More directly, Iran retains influence over the security agencies and the informational agencies of the Hezbollah group. Hezbollah possesses an official representation in Teheran. The group is principally financed by Iran and Syria, as well as through private funds. However, certain financial sources tend towards proving a more secretive source of finance. Following a sting of Brazilian and Ecuadorian policemen on June 21, 2005, bringing up to date an international network of drug trafficking, certain people were detained and suspected of having funded the Hezbollah network.
Timeline
Hezbollah was founded in June of 1982. With above all the support of Iran and Syria, as a reaction to the Israeli invasion of June, 1982, Hezbollah rapidly, thanks to the world system and the financial aid of propaganda as well as the aid of the international community, became the principle military organization opposing the occupation of Israel in the south of Lebanon. Its origins date back to the establishment of about a thousand radical Shiites exiled in Iran in the Bekaa Valley, therefore under Syrian control. Hezbollah united diverse movements, principally the Islamic Amal (a dissidence of Amal) and the Lebanese branch of the Ad-Daawa Party. Since 1979, an Islamic wing was formed within the Amal around Hussein Moussawi. In 1982, Nabih Berri, the leader of Amal, participated in the Committee of National Safety beside Béchir Gemayel (head of the Lebanese forces.) Teheran wishes for him to withdraw but he refuses. Hussein Moussawi and Ibrahim el Amine (representatives of Amal in Teheran) are knocking on the door and blend with the support of 500 Iranian “guardians of the revolution” of the Islamic Amal group. The gathering of this group with many other smaller yet integral Shiite groups gave birth to Hezbollah. Its spiritual guide was Sheik Fadlallah. At the time, the declared objectives of the Party were to extend the Iranian Islamic revolution and to create an Islamic State in Lebanon, which would originally give them the name of “God's Party” (Hezbollah) by the critics. Today, it has temporarily renounced this objective. In the regions predominantly Shiite, it is progressively taking the place of its rival Amal, accused of corruption. The first actions by means of Iran known against the western interests rose in January, 1983, when a grenade was launched against a French military patrol. In March of that same year, it was two American patrols that were attacked. In April, this was the first major attack which took place against the American embassy in Bayreuth, killing 63 people. October 23, 1983, two suicide attacks against the multinational force of interposition killed 248 Americans and 58 French. The United States and France accused Hezbollah and Iran of being behind the attack. Hezbollah denies any implications. The Franco-American reprisals against the positions of the Hezbollah group and the Syrian army were more for media than truly significant. Following an ensemble of actions which made the movement known, notably the taking of hostages such as those, in 1985, of the journalist Jean-Paul Kaufmann and the French researcher Michel Seurat—who was killed by decapitation—and the high-jacking of a plane on June 14, 1985 (one passenger beaten.) It is necessary to note that the temporary removal of 4 Soviet diplomats was promptly fixed by the KGB with methods of intimidation after the assassination of one of the diplomats.
From 1985 to 1987, Amal affronts the progressive socialist Party, Hezbollah, and the Palestinians in an episode called, “the war of the camps.” Beginning in 1987, Amal is re-routed and Syria militarily intervenes in order to support its closest ally. Combat breaks out between the Syrian military and Hezbollah. Iran also intervenes in order to impose a cease-fire. Beginning in April of 1988, Hezbollah and Amal violently attack each other for the domination of the south of Bayreuth in various attacks which claim 600 lives over a two week period and which see Hezbollah occupy 95% of the zone beginning on May 11. The Syrian army intervenes on May 25 in order to cease the attacks. This Shiite fratricidal war ended in January 1989 and later through a peace treaty in October, 1990. Contrary to Hassan Nasrallah, the spiritual guide of Hezbollah, Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, has reserves regarding the primacy of the faqih (the religious discretion, known as velayat-e faqih in Persian,) a doctrine developed by the first guide of the Iranian revolution, Rouhollah Khomeiny. After the death of Khomeiny in 1989, Fadlallah does not feel pressured to follow his successor Ali Khameinei on all questions. The influence of Iran on the movement diminished, though it still remains important.
The Conflict in the South of Lebanon From 1990 to 2000
Between 1990 and 2000, Hezbollah reinforced its alliance with Syria and consolidated its military wing. It pursued guerilla warfare with Israel in a conflict which largely exceeds the context of the south of Lebanon. The tension culminated through the Raisins Operation and the anger brought by the Israeli army in April, 1996, which ended with the deaths of 154 civilians of which 107 were killed over the course of the bombardment of Cana in 1996. On March 17, 1992, a bombing killed 29 and wounded 242 at the Israeli embassy in Argentina. On June 18, 1994, a bombing killed 86 and wounded more than 200 in a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires. The Argentinean State first formally accused Iran and Hezbollah of being behind the attacks, and several members of the local Shiite community were arrested and then released due to lack of proof. The Argentinean Supreme Court could not validate their trail. The quest continued, tainted by the disappearance of evidence, ignored trails, the theft of documents, threatened witnesses, or witnesses who were bought off. Among the suspects were several former members of the police of the Buenos Aires province which, for several years, was implicated in several scandals of corruption. However, on October 25, 2006, two Argentinean procurers recommended to a judge to arrange the arrest of the former Iranian President Hachemi Rafsandani and seven other responsible Iranian men, declaring that the “decision to attack” “was made in 1993 by the highest authorities of the Iranian government at the time,” and adding that the Lebanese Hezbollah had been charged with committing the attack. November 9, 2006, following this recommendation, the federal judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral launched an international mandate of arrest against Mr. Rafsandjani and seven others and demanded the aid of Interpol in this affair. After the Israeli retreat from Lebanon in June of 2000, a controversy broke out regarding the subject of the farming district of Chebaa. This territory, occupied by Israel over the course of the war of the Six-Days, is considered to be Syrian by the UN and Israel, but Lebanese by Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Syria. The official maps of the UN indicate that the farms of Chebaa are found on Syrian land, but following the Israeli retreat, Syria and Lebanon declare that this territory is Lebanese. The UN has not decided to trace borders, but because the Syria government refuses to notify the UN of the sovereignty of Lebanon on these territories, the UN currently considers the farms of Chebaa to be Syrian. Consequently, the UN considers the Israel retreat finished in accordance with the terms of the resolution 425 (1978.) The conflict is ongoing between Israel and Hezbollah. Episodically, this last has brought attacks against the Israeli military forces in this farming territory of Chebaa or in launching Katioucha rockets upon the north of Israel; meanwhile the Israeli forces are penetrating Lebanese airspace or are bombarding the Hezbollah group in Lebanese territory.
The Disarmament in the Context of the Resolution of 1559 (2004)
In September, 2004, the Security Council of the UN adopted by 9 votes (Germany, Angola, Benin, Chili, Spain, the United States, France, Romania, and the United Kingdom) and 6 abstentions (Algeria, Brazil, China, Pakistan, Philippines, and Russia) a resolution demanding the disarmament of the ensemble of non-governmental forces in Lebanon, among other things (“3. Demand that all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia be dissolved and disarmed.”) Hezbollah was clearly designated by diplomats as concerned by this resolution. Hezbollah refused, to this day, any disarmament. A part of the forces of Lebanese anti-Syrian opposition favoring the complete and total execution of this resolution (that is, a sovereign Lebanese state) propose a disarmament plan, which the Hezbollah group refuses because it thinks that the Lebanese army cannot assure its work in the south of Lebanon. In May, 2005, measures were pursued in order to prompt Hezbollah to propose a disarmament plan. The eighth session of the conference of dialogues aiming at reaching an agreement on the disarmament of the Hezbollah opened on June 8, 2006, in Bayreuth, the capital at the bottom of the disagreement. The principle Muslim and Christian leaders estimate that the Lebanese army will not be able to respond when facing the Israeli military presence. Hezbollah considers itself capable of “reposting Israeli aggressions against Lebanon” and demands the Israeli retreat from the farming sector of Chebaa and the return of Lebanese prisoners in Israel; meanwhile Israel reclaims the security of its northern border against all attacks and the return of its soldiers taken prisoner by the Hezbollah.
Participation in the Lebanese Government
Following the elections of May-June of 2005, Hezbollah obtained 11% of votes and the Bloc of the resistance and development to which it belongs, 27.4%. Concerning the interior as well as exterior political equilibrium, Hezbollah is henceforth prone to agreement and dialogue without exterior interference. Its leader, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, calls for dialogues and pronounces himself in favor of a “government of national unity.” Strong with its 14 Deputies (over 128,) the Hezbollah group joined the government for the first time on July 19, 2005. It officially obtained 1 minister out of 24, that of Energy which was assigned to Mohammad Fneich, or three unofficially, as Faouzi Saloukh and Trad Hamadé were respectively named to the posts of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Work. They are all considered to be pro-Hezbollah.
Israeli-Lebanese Conflict of 2006
July 12, 2006, Hezbollah launched an attack of mortars and Katioucha rockets on an Israeli unit which was undertaking a routine patrol. Israel accuses the Shiite movement of having carried out this operation on its territory while Hezbollah affirms that the attacked soldiers had infiltrated Lebanese territory. Among the soldiers of the contingent which made up this unit, three were killed and two were taken prisoner by Hezbollah. Another Israeli unit, attempting to liberate these two soldiers, encountered a strong, armed opposition: 8 of the soldiers were killed. This operation was exposed as an “aggression” by Israel. The Israeli army thus begins its most important attack in Lebanon since the invasion of 1982. Total aerial and maritime blockades were practiced on the country. The attack unfolded principally through aerial means with daily bombardments in the south of Lebanon and quarters south of Bayreuth. Commandos carried out isolated missions, notably in Baalbeck. The major roadways were destroyed by the systematic bombing of bridges. At the end of the conflict, a major part of Lebanese infrastructures was destroyed, but Hezbollah claimed the victory. Nevertheless, after 34 days of war, 1,183 Lebanese civilians were killed (non-definitive calculation,) and 160 deaths of which 117 were soldiers were calculated in Israel. A part of the population, including a part of Christians and Sunnites supporting Hezbollah through anti-Israeli resentment, however, along with this conflict (which Nasrallah admits to have underestimated its intensity at the moment of its disengagement) sharpen the tensions within the community in Lebanon. Certain Lebanese personalities such as journalist May Chidiac accuse Hezbollah of having unilaterally release a disastrous war upon the country.
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