What is Hezbollah?

What is Hezbollah?
    The Hezbollah, variously spelt also as Hizbollah, Hizbullah, Hizb Allah and so on, is a Lebanese Shia organisation which has both a military and a civil arm. Its name means Party of God in Arabic. Countries like Israel, the US and Canada have designated it a terrorist organisation, while the Lebanese government itself has described it as a national resistance movement. The organisation is led by its general secretary, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. The UK, a close ally of the US, has not designated the Hezbollah itself as terrorist, but the Hezbollah External Security Organisation, a wing of the parent body is on the UK list of terrorist organisations. Australia and the Netherlands have adopted a similar stance. The EU has none of the Hezbollah�s many organisational wings listed as terrorist, but one of its senior intelligence officers, Imad Mugniyah, is part of the EU list. Interestingly, Russia, one the countries confronted with Islamist terror has not designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, highlighting once again why a universal definition of terrorism is more difficult to arrive at than it might seem to be. The Hezbollah�s military wing is generally acknowledged to the best armed and trained non-state entity in West Asia.

What is Hezbollah�s ideology?
    While the Hezbollah came into being following the Israeli occupation of Lebanon in 1982 and hence identifies the end of Israel as its main aim, its ideology is essentially derived from a specific form of Islamic Shia ideology associated with Ayatollah Khomeini, who led the Islamic revolution in Iran in late 1970s. The Hezbollah initially declared that transforming Lebanon into an Islamic republic was among its aims, but has of late dropped that plank.

Is Hezbollah also part of the Lebanese government?
    Yes. The Hezbollah has over the years become the dominant force among the Shias of Lebanon, replacing the Amal movement in that position. Under the Lebanese constitution, each ethnoreligious group is assured of representation in the government. The Hezbollah won 14 of the 128 seats in the Lebanese parliament in the 2005 elections and now has two cabinet ministers in the government.

Why is Hezbollah described as a movement and not just a party?
    The organisation doesn�t just have a military wing but also a civil one that participates in politics. In addition to these, it runs a social development programme. Among other things, it runs hospitals, schools and media units. Under its Jihad al-Bina (reconstruction campaign), it also has taken up infrastructure building projects in Lebanon. This also helps to explain why Hezbollah is seen as a legitimate resistance movement in most of the Arab and Muslim world, not to mention Lebanon itself. A recent poll by the Beirut Centre for Research and Information, for instance, showed that 87% of all Lebanese support Hezbollah in its current fight against Israel. More interestingly, the support cuts across communities and is not confined to the Shias. According to the poll, 80% of Christians and 89% of Sunnis in Lebanon supported Hezbollah in the current battle.

Where does Hezbollah get its resources from?
    It is widely believed to be funded and armed by both Iran and Syria, though the Hezbollah and the two countries maintain that they offer only moral support. Official US estimates suggested that the Hezbollah was receiving about $100 million a year from Iran alone in the 1980s and 90s. The movement says it gets its funds from donations from all over the world.

Is Hezbollah linked to Al-Qaida?
   Some reports do suggest such a link, but many experts question the possibility of the alliance given their different ideologies. The Wahabbi ideology to which Al-Qaida subscribes regards Shias as apostates and the group has in fact carried out suicide attacks on Shia targets in Iraq. Under the circumstances, experts argue, it is difficult to see how the Hezbollah, a Shia organisation, could make common cause with Al-Qaida.