Hezbollah

General Information

Hezbollah, or Party of God, is an informal umbrella group of Shiite Muslim militants in Lebanon that advocates the creation of an Islamic republic there. Formed in about 1983, it places Islam above Arab nationalism and has demanded that Westerners leave Lebanon and that Christians there be tried for crimes against Muslims. Hezbollah's more than 5,000 members, subsidized and trained by Iran, are concentrated in the southern slums of Beirut and al - Biqa (Bekaa) Valley; they become martyrs if they sacrifice their lives in what is considered a holy war. BELIEVE Religious Information Source web-site Our List of 1,300 Religious Subjects The organization has no formal structure; its fluid membership includes such shadowy terrorist groups as Islamic Jihad, the Revolutionary Justice Organization, Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Arab Revolutionary Cells. Hezbollah groups have claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombings of the U S embassy and marine headquarters in Beirut, several hijackings, and the taking of Western and Israeli hostages. In January 1989, after months of armed clashes, Hezbollah signed a peace agreement with the mainstream Lebanese Shiite group, the Syrian backed Amal (Hope). The 1989 death of Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini and a Syrian brokered Lebanese peace accord led to a decline in Hezbollah's influence in the early 1990s. Hezbollah's tactics and shadowy nature frustrated conventional political, diplomatic, and military strategies and contributed to a U S foreign policy scandal, the Iran Contra Affair. After the Persian Gulf War (1991), in an effort to end its international isolation, the Iranian government persuaded Hezbollah groups to release some hostages.

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