Hezbollah

Hezbollah (Arabic ‮حزب الله‬, meaning Party of God, for other designations or alternative spellings, see 'name 'part of this article) is a political and military party in Lebanon founded in 1982 to fight Israel in southern Lebanon. It is regarded by many in the Arab and Muslim world as a legitimate militant Shia political party in Lebanon and by many in the Western world, by various non-Arab governments, and by the Israeli government as an Islamist terrorist or Islamic fundamentalist organization. In addition to its military wing, Hezbollah maintains a civilian arm, which runs hospitals, various news services, and eductional facilities.

Foreign relations

Hezbollah claims that it forbids its fighters entry into Iraq for any reason, and that no Hezbollah units or individual fighters have entered Iraq to support any Iraqi faction fighting America. However, on April 2, 2004, Muqtada al-Sadr announced his intention to form chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/international/middleeast/05SADR.html?8bl. He is not known to have consulted Hezbollah or Hamas before making this statement.

Related Topics:
April 2 - 2004 - Muqtada al-Sadr - Hamas

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Hezbollah has no known links to Al-Qaida. Though Hezbollah has a Shi'ite ideology, this does not exclude it from co-operation with Sunni groups. However, Al-Qaida and the Taliban, which are respectively a Wahhabi and a Deobandi group, have long histories of conflict with Shia groups and with Iran in particular, Hezbollah's strongest backer. Hezbollah is closely allied with Iran and has a complex relationship with Syria. Hezbollah is strongly anti-Zionist, anti-West, and anti-Israeli.

Related Topics:
Al-Qaida - Shi'ite - Sunni - Taliban - Wahhabi - Deobandi - Iran - Syria - Anti-Zionist - West - Israel

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In 2004 the Dutch internal security agency AIVD, concluded:

Related Topics:
2004 - Dutch - AIVD

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:"Investigations have shown that Hezbollah?s terrorist wing, the Hezbollah External Security Organisation, has been directly and indirectly involved in terrorist acts. It can also be concluded that Hezbollah?s political and terrorist wings are controlled by one co-ordinating council. This means that there is indeed a link between these parts of the organisation. The Netherlands has changed its policy and no longer makes a distinction between the political and terrorist Hezbollah branches. The Netherlands informed the relevant EU bodies of its findings." http://www.fas.org/irp/world/netherlands/aivd2004-eng.pdf

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It is widely believed that Hafez al-Assad and Hezbollah were closely linked; this did not significantly affect his relations with the rest of the world. Bashar al-Assad, his son and successor, has been subjected to sanctions by the U.S. due to (among other things, such as occupying Lebanon) his continued support for Hezbollah, which it views as a terrorist organization. However, on March 3, 2005, the Bush administration stated that it would consider Hezbollah legitimate if it disarmed, but also said that this did not represent a change in their view of the organization, which is unlikely to do so.

Related Topics:
Hafez al-Assad - Bashar al-Assad - U.S. - March 3 - 2005

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Those who consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization consider its sponsors (in particular Iran, Syria, and Lebanon) to stand in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1566. Further, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calls for the dismantling of Hezbollah and all other militias. Israel has lodged continuous complaintshttp://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255db800470aa485255d8b004e349a/2005131e10c4ac7485256cb10053e171!OpenDocument about Hezbollah's actions. Israel has bombed several Syrian targets in retaliation for terrorist and guerrilla attacks by Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah that Israel claims were sponsored by Syria. An Israeli official said that those attacks are a "message to Syria to stop sponsoring terrorism".

Related Topics:
Iran - Syria - Lebanon - 1373 - 1566 - UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - Israel - Islamic Jihad

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