At 40, Hezbollah Is Isolated But More Powerful Than Ever

Hezbollah marked the 40th anniversary of its founding on Monday with massive celebrations on a stage in south Beirut, Lebanon.

There, holograms of fighters killed in the battle and videos showing the group’s historic confrontation with Israel thrilled those in attendance. An interpretive dance, which describes how the group freed ISIS prisoners in Syria, was widely applauded.

Over the years, the Lebanese Shi’ite group has tried to change its image from an Iranian-backed paramilitary organization to a serious political and regional player. Forty years later, Hezbollah is militarily more powerful than ever, but at the same time, it has never been more globally isolated than it is now.

Many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as the Persian Gulf states and the Arab League, have labeled the entire group a terrorist organization.

The European Union and France only consider Hezbollah’s military wing as such. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the group, is considered an international terrorist by the United States and, as such, is subject to US sanctions.

The movement emerged in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion of Beirut during Lebanon’s bloody civil war. You
Israelis accomplished their objective of expelling Palestinian fighters from the country, but reaped an enemy as a result.
stronger in Hezbollah.

Iran’s new regime saw the group as a suitable ally, both because of its Shiite ideology and because of Hezbollah’s position at the heart of the Arab world. The country then began to provide funding and training to the group soon after its creation.

Since then, Hezbollah has expanded, including militarily. In 2000, Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon after a prolonged conflict with the group. In 2006, the group maintained their positions in a war against Israel, when Israel tried to disarm him.

During the Syrian civil war, the group successfully intervened on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad and helped bolster their defenses after the dictator repressed with violence a popular uprising.

In season, the influence group policy seemed to be on an ascendant without interruption, despite an internal bet (backed by Arabia Saudi Arabia) to rein in its power, which was rapidly spreading to beyond Lebanon.

Opinions in Lebanon are divided: 52% of Lebanese do not believe that Hezbollah promotes the stability of the country, in
according to a 2021 Zogby Institute surveyWhile the rest believe so.

Sectarian divisions are more flagrant. Eighty percent of Shias are confident that the Hezbollah benefits Lebanon’s stability, as does Druze (64%) and Christian (56%) majorities; but none of Sunni respondents expressed this sentiment, according to the search.

Nasrallah was once considered a hero by the Arabs for having faced Israel. But for Shibley Telhami, professor at University of Maryland who has conducted research on opinion in the Arab world, “public attitudes towards the Hezbollah among Arabs may have been affected by the uprisings of the Arab Spring, the war in Syria, the tensions
sectarianism in Lebanon and by Iranian-Arab rivalries”.

“On an official level, Hezbollah is a resistance movement; at the However, its role has evolved beyond Lebanon as
the group has become a regional player”, added Mohanad Hage Ali, a colleague at Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

“Calling Hezbollah a resistance movement is inaccurate.” Hezbollah has become a crucial player on the Lebanese political scene. You
opponents label it as a dark state within a state, led by Hassan Nasrallah since his accession to
post of Secretary General in 1992.

impetuous leader and charismatic, Nasrallah has rarely appeared in public since 2006 war with Israel, apparently out of fear of murder. At the group’s anniversary meeting this week, he delivered his celebratory speech via video.

The 2006 war with Israel was instigated by an attack on the two countries’ borders by Hezbollah, in which eight soldiers
Israelis were killed and two kidnapped. The resulting fighting caused the deaths of 121 Israeli military personnel and 49 civilians. On the other side, around 270 Hezbollah fighters were killed, as well as 50 Lebanese soldiers and police. More: about 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, died in the Israeli response.

“Hezbollah has always had an interest in a weak and obedient Lebanese armed force. It is highly debatable whether Lebanon is
safer because of Hezbollah’s actions,” said Emile Hokayem, a Middle East security expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“On the one hand, Hezbollah has set a level of deterrence against Israel. On the other hand, Lebanon is objectively weaker, isolated, economically despised and politically deranged,” he continued.

For Israel, the Shiite group’s advanced weaponry poses a greater threat than that of other Iranian-backed Palestinian groups operating in Gaza.

Over the past decade, Hezbollah has played an increasingly active role in the region, including Iraq and Yemen. The group’s most significant foreign military engagement was in Syria, where thousands of fighters were deployed to
defend the Assad regime.

“Hezbollah played a central role in the Syrian conflict by acting directly in it, reversing the gains of the opposition,” said Ali of Carnegie Middle East Center. “However, its interventions in Iraq and Yemen are more on the side
political and logistical, specifically political training and facilitation”.

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah regularly uses inflammatory language against the Gulf Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia.

“Hezbollah has poisoned Lebanese relations with the Gulf states, which have been crucial economic lifelines
for the Lebanese diaspora and state,” said expert Hokayem, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“In Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere, Lebanon is seen as a threat, a country too weak to prevent its main political party jeopardizes its security”.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese work in the states of oil-rich Persian Gulf, sending billions in cash from Come back home. Internal remittances represent 54% of the Lebanon’s economy, according to the world Bank.

That said, the group now seems to soften their tone towards to the Gulf countries. In his recent 40th birthday speech, Nasrallah declared: “We have no problems with Lebanon’s relations with with the Arab countries and especially with the Gulf countries, nor
problems for these relationships to evolve and strengthen”.

“Now, as Iran is about to return to the nuclear deal and resume diplomatic relations with the Gulf states, the Hezbollah should logically follow suit and lessen the temperature of your rhetoric,” Ali commented.