Explanation: What is Hezbollah and why is it throwing rockets at Israel?

There seems to be no end to Israel and its dangers with Hezbollah supporting Hamas. The Shiite organization Hezbollah launches rockets at Israeli army positions in the disputed Shebaa Farm region. Following an unprecedented invasion of Israeli territory by Hamas militants from Gaza, Hezbollah praised the action as “a sign of solidarity” with the Palestinian people.

Hezbollah is a Shia organization that grew from a secret group formed during the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon into a powerful movement with significant influence on the Lebanese state. Many governments, including the US, designate it as a terrorist group.

The Israeli-Palestinian War: A Comparison of Israeli Military Power and Palestinian Militant Groups

This article will help you learn more about the Lebanese group, its origins, development and more.

What is Hezbollah?

Hezbollah means ‘Party of Allah’ or ‘Party of God’. It is a Lebanese Shiite Islamist political party and militant group founded during the 1982 Lebanon War. The organization was created with the support of 1,500 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps instructors and brought together various Lebanese Shia groups into a single organization to resist the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.

The Shiites have been led by Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. The paramilitary wing of the organization is known as the Jihad Council, and the political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese parliament. Hezbollah has received a great deal of military aid from Iran since its inception. Over the years, it has amassed a formidable arsenal of rockets, missiles and other weapons to maintain its grudge against Israel.

Source: WikipediaHezbollah also has a formal management structure, and in accordance with the principle of guardianship of Islamic jurists, it concentrates all power and authority on its religious leaders, whose decisions then “flow from the ulama to the entire community.”

What is Hamas and its role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Why is Hezbollah targeting Israel?

The dispute between Israel and Hezbollah is a long-standing and complex conflict that has its roots in the history of political, religious and territorial issues. Hezbollah is a Shia political and military organization based in Lebanon, while Israel is a Middle Eastern country located south of Lebanon. Claiming responsibility for the recent attack, Hezbollah said in a statement: “On the way to liberate the rest of our occupied Lebanese land and in solidarity with the victorious Palestinian resistance and steadfast Palestinian people, the group of the fallen commander Hajj Imad Moghniyeh in the Islamic Resistance carried out an attack this Sunday, 8 .October 2023, targeting 3 Zionist occupation sites in the occupied Lebanese region of Shebaa Farms.”

The situation remains unstable, and occasional outbreaks of violence continue to occur in the region, contributing to ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Some of the key points regarding the dispute are:

The rivalry has led to numerous conflicts over the years, including a landmark war in 2006 when Israel attacked Hezbollah troops in response to cross-border attacks and the kidnapping of Israeli troops. Since then, there have been occasional skirmishes, rocket attacks, and shelling along the Israeli-Lebanese border; however, they did not turn into a conflict of real proportions.

Since 1978, UNIFIL has been stationed in southern Lebanon to help maintain stability and monitor the border between Israel and Lebanon. However, they were not entirely successful in maintaining peace between Israel and Hezbollah.

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Source: HIS Education