Hezbollah

Profile of the Lebanese Shiite Terrorist Organization of Global Reach Sponsored by Iran and Supported by Syria

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• Part 1 - a description and analysis of Hezbollah as the Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization of global reach.
• Part 2 – appendices and data evidencing the nature, capabilities, and operating methods of Hezbollah.

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• Since its inception in 1982, Hezbollah has conducted a terrorist campaign aimed at promoting the radical Shiite-Islamicdoctrine conceived by Iran ’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini, who died in 1989. The basic principles of this doctrine, which reflect the fundamental identity of Hezbollah as a Shiite jihad organization, are 1) the consistent and relentless struggle against Israel until the “liberation of Jerusalem” and the annihilation of Israel are achieved, and 2) intense hostility toward the United States, along with efforts to force its presence and influence out of the Middle East. In order to achieve these goals, Hezbollah has placed the use of terrorism against its enemies at the focal point of its strategy of asymmetric conflict, with the weapon of suicide as one of its key components. In Hezbollah’s view, the United States and Israel have no adequate response to such weapon.

• During more than twenty years of its existence, Hezbollah has undergone a remarkable process of organizational development. Starting as a local Lebanese terrorist group, one among many others operating in Lebanon , it has grown into a political movement with global capabilities in the sphere of terrorism, an extensive military apparatus, and weapons that include land-to-land missiles. The highest authority of this intricate organizational structure, which encompasses civilian, military, and communal functions, is the Decision-Making Shura Council (see below). The Shura has been headed since 1992 by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah and the main architect of its policy. Another member of the Shura is Nasrallah’s second-in-command, Imad Mughniyah, who is in charge of Hezbollah’s military framework, including its terrorist activity throughout the world and against Israel . Despite a tendency in Europe , motivated by political interests, to differentiate between the military and political wings of the organization, the leadership itself stresses time and again that Hezbollah is a package entity, and that the distinction between its military and political wings is merely technical.

• It goes without saying that Hezbollah would not have reached its present status without the extensive assistance and backing of Iran and Syria . Iran , which regards Hezbollah as a means of achieving its own ideological and strategic goals, is a large-scale provider of military support to Hezbollah. This includes first and foremost the al-Quds Force of Iran ’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC, hereinafter: “the Revolutionary Guards”) in Lebanon . Iran also supplies Hezbollah with a variety of military hardware, such as upgraded anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, missile launchers, land-to-land missiles of various types, including long-range (43 km) Fajr-3 missiles and Fajr-5 missiles (with a 75 km range). Iranian assistance also comprises military training, logistic support, and financial assistance estimated at several millions of US dollars yearly (in addition to Hezbollah’s endeavors to generate its own financial resources through fundraising in Western countries and through criminal activity, mostly money counterfeiting and drug smuggling). Following recent evidence of Iranian and Hezbollah involvement in the bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires (1994), the Argentinian prosecution served senior members of Hezbollah (including Imad Mughniyah), Iranian diplomats,and prominent Iranians (including former Iranian Information Minister Ali Fallahian) with arrest warrants to the judge in charge of the inquiry. A detailed recent report by Argentinian intelligence accuses Iran of direct involvement in the bombing, through its intelligence services and the Hezbollah organization.

• Syria , a strategic supporter of Hezbollah from its founding, prevented the dismantling of the organization following the signature of the Taif Agreement in 1989, and allowed its expansion to its present dimensions. Syria has upgraded the policy of cautious support that prevailed during the Hafez al-Assad regime to a strategic alliance following his son Bashar’s succession. Syria now regards Hezbollah as a strategic partner in its policy toward Israel . Syria also acts as a major source of military support to Hezbollah, alongside Iran , and recently provided the organization with long-range Syrian-made missiles. Syria also backs Hezbollah’s policy of terrorist attacks in southern Lebanon . It guarantees Hezbollah’s freedom of operation, while preventing the Lebanese government from enforcing its authority in the region in accordance with Resolution 425 of the UN Security Council. Since the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon , the organization has carried out some 30 terrorist attacks, all under the auspices of Damascus , including the deadly attack against civilians at Kibbutz Metsuba in March 2002. Damascus , while continuing to effectively control Lebanon , is responsible for creating the conditions that transformed Hezbollah from a troublesome terrorist group into a strategic threat to Israel and the entire Middle East .

• From a military-operational perspective , Hezbollah operates in three main arenas:

• The Lebanese arena : Israel ’s withdrawal from Lebanon on May 24, 2000 and the UN Security Council’s statement that Israel completed its withdrawal according to Resolution 425, did not alter the nature of Hezbollah. Neither did they affect its adherence to terrorism as the principal means of achieving its political-strategic goals, the essence of which is to wear down Israel until its final annihilation . Hezbollah exploits to the fullest the freedom of operation that Syria allows it to enjoy in southern Lebanon regarding the weak Lebanese administration in this region. It invests considerable effort in establishing, expanding, and reinforcing its military operational apparatus in southern Lebanon , with the effect of turning the region into Hezbollah-only country. Hezbollah has taken over the place of the weaker central administration and assumed the bulk of power in the region, similar to the state-within-a-state known as “Fatahland” created by the Palestinian terrorist organizations in southern Lebanon prior to 1982. Since the Israeli withdrawal, Hezbollah has endeavored to maintain controlled tension along the Israeli-Lebanese border. It has exerted continuous pressure on Israel by means of terrorist attacks against military and civilian targets along the northern border. At the same time, it is building up a military apparatus in Beirut and Lebanon ’s Bekaa region , keeping its strategic offensive system operation-ready. The latter is meant to serve as a key element in upholding the “balance of deterrence” vis-a-vis Israel . Its military apparatus will enable Hezbollah to prepare to drag the region into a wide-ranging military escalation at the “right” time.

• The Palestinian arena : a major component of the endeavors of Hezbollah is the extensive assistance it extends to Palestinian terrorism. Its purposes are to enhance the operational abilities of the Palestinian terrorist organizations, encourage them to pursue their armed struggle against Israel , and to duplicate the Lebanese model in the Palestinian territories . The assistance provided by Hezbollah to Palestinian terrorism comprises various elements, including the smuggling of high-quality weapons through Lebanon and Jordan and by maritime routes (using ships such as the Karine-A), as well as the provision of military training, financial support, information, and propaganda. Moreover, Hezbollah is setting up its own terrorist apparatus within Israel and the Palestinian territories , and is even recruiting Israeli Arabs to carry out terrorist missions. The leadership of Hezbollahdoes not deny its granting military assistance to the violent struggle of the Palestinians against Israel , and regards suicide attacks as a means of demoralizing Israeli society.

• The global arena : Since its establishment in 1982, Hezbollah has pursued a policy of global terrorism directed mainly against Israeli and American targets, and in the past also against European targets. This terrorism relies on a broad international network of collaborators recruited mainly (though not exclusively) from Shiite-Muslim communities worldwide, including the United States and South America . This network is meant to serve a number of purposes: gathering operational intelligence on Israeli / Jewish / Western targets; maintaining “latent cells” that can be activated in time of need and in accordance with the strategic considerations of the organization and the countries backing it; and raising funds in order to supplement the massive financing provided to it by Iran . Beyond all this, this network enables the organization to carry out at short notice “high-quality” attacks in various places in the world, as already happened twice in Argentina . The main areas of activity of this global network are in South America, Southeast Asia , Jordan , the Persian Gulf, and Europe . During the 1980s, Hezbollah attacks targetedWestern (American and European) objectives, mostly on Lebanese soil: bombing military and civilian compounds, hostage-takings, and hijackings. In the 1990s, Hezbollah adopted a more selective approach, focusing mainly on “high-quality attacks” such as the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in March 1992, the bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in July 1994, and the active involvement in the bombing of a military base housing US troops in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in June 1996. At the same time, Hezbollah uses Europe as a platform for launching terrorist attacks against Israel and achieving bargaining power vis-a-vis the latter . In recent years, a number of such Hezbollah terrorists infiltrated into Israel with the intention of carrying out “high-quality attacks” or gathering operational intelligence for carrying out such attacks; and an Israeli citizen, Elhanan Tannenbaum, was kidnapped by Hezbollah in Europe in October 2000.

• Like al-Qaida, Hezbollah constitutes a global Islamic terrorist network with specific characteristics that make it a constant and major threat, not only to the State of Israel but also to regional as well as worldwide stability. Its distinct features and terrorist character derive from the following:

• Official backing and assistance from Iran and Syria, both of which have been identified by the American State Department as countries sponsoring terrorism:
  
  • Iran laid the foundations of the Hezbollah organization as part of its doctrine of “exporting the Islamic Revolution” and its strategy of using terrorism as a key element in its national security policy. Hezbollah was thus established in 1982 through Iran’s Revolutionary Guards sent to Lebanon’s Bekaa region during the civil war in Lebanon. Later on, the organization became the flagship of the Islamic Revolution and its major achievement outside Iranian borders. Iranshaped Hezbollah’s ideology, granted it political backing, and built up its operational capability. Iran continues to extend it military support (training and weapons), financial aid (the bulk of Hezbollah’s budget comes from Iran) and assistance in its terrorist activity (Iranian involvement in terrorist attacks as recently uncovered in Argentina).

• Syria is the second strategic patron of the Hezbollah. Indeed, Hezbollah has grown and developed under the auspices of Syria. Together with Palestinian terrorist organizations that operate from Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah has become a tool in the hands of the Damascus regime, used to exert pressure on Israel in order to promote Syrian political and strategic interests. In recent years, following Bashar al-Assad’s accession to power, relations between Syria and Hezbollah have been upgraded. While Hafez al-Assad adhered to a policy of “cautious support” of Hezbollah, under his son’s regime, Hezbollah has become a full-fledged strategic ally backed by the Syrian president, who maintains close relations with its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Damascus, like Tehran, uses the terrorist capacity with which it has vested Hezbollah in order to conduct a “war by proxy” against its enemies, specifically against Israel. This war by proxy has been the Syrian policy for several decades, from the beginning of the Hafez al-Assad regime in 1970, when Hezbollah took over the role of the Palestinian terrorist organizations as a preferred “proxy”.

• A sheltered territorial base that guarantees freedom of activity : Hezbollah, like al-Qaida until the American military operation against it in Afghanistan , enjoys the benefits of a powerful territorial base. Hezbollah is firmly established on the Lebanese scene and takes full advantage of the backing given to it by the Shiite community, as well as the weakness of the official administration in the region, which is totally dependent on Syria , Iran ’s strategic ally. Syria , motivated by strategic considerations, contributes to the consolidation of Hezbollah and the expansion of its activity. Therefore, in defiance of the Taif Agreement signed in 1989 and the ensuing dismantling of the Christian and Druze militias, Syria allowed Hezbollah to maintain and even further develop its military-operational power base in southern Lebanon , Beirut , and Lebanon ’s Bekaa region. This policy facilitated the establishment of a semi-autonomous apparatus, or a state-within-a-state in southern Lebanon as well as several locations in the north of the country, where a widespread and well-protected terrorism and guerilla apparatus thrives .

• Radical Shiite-Islamic ideology that places the emphasis on a holy war (jihad): the jihad doctrine of Hezbollah as conceived by Iran, explicitly calls for the annihilation of Israel, the struggle against the United States, the propagation of the “Islamic Revolution” and—in the long term—the transformation of Lebanon into an Islamic republic similar to that of Iran. Hezbollah, as a rule, is careful to camouflage these aspects of its ideology, emphasizing mainly its interim objectives, in particular supporting Palestinian terrorism against Israel , with the alleged purpose of defending Lebanese national interests and opposing the American presence in the Middle East . To achieve its ambitious and far-reaching goals, and in view of its own and the Palestinians’ military inferiority to Israel , Hezbollah advocates the widespread use of the “weapon of suicide”, stressing its value as an asymmetric and undeterrable means to achieving its goals. Hezbollah also grants extensive assistance to the Palestinians in the form of advanced weaponry and military training, the purpose of which is to help upgrade their terrorist activity and rule out the easing of violence in the Palestinian territories.
  
• This ideology and these goals obviously far exceed the narrow borders of Lebanon and the limited context of Israeli-Lebanese relations. These goals relate to the entire Arab and Islamic worlds. Hezbollah describes the conflict with Israel as a microcosm of a much larger conflict between the Muslim and the Western worlds, referring to this conflict as the very materialization of Samuel Huntington’s nightmarish vision of a “clash of civilizations”. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, regards himself as a politician who enjoys a special status in Lebanon , a messenger of Pan-Islamism, one who carries the burden of a historical mission that transcends regions and trends: the mission of the Muslim struggle against the West. This ideological dimension highlights the threat embodied by this organization vis-a-vis Western countries and the international community, beyond the direct threat that it poses to Israel .

• The availability of advanced arms and the capability to have access to unconventional power resources, as well as the high level of technological skills and sophistication all far exceed the known standards of terrorist organizations worldwide, rendering Hezbollah a highly dangerous organization, both locally and globally. Complementing these means are highly sophisticated tactical as well as operational capabilities, developed thanks to massive Iranian support and Hezbollah’s own military experience from two decades of armed struggle against the Israeli army and many years of terrorist activity against Israeli and Western targets.
  
• Diverse military and political skills used to reach the organization’s goals - Hezbollah has developed a variety of capabilities in order to achieve its objectives: operational capabilities (including an extensive artillery system); a military-strategic apparatus (including long-range land-to-land missiles); the ability to carry out terrorist attacks in various locations (inside Israel , abroad, through Lebanon ; behind the scenes, or with direct involvement). Furthermore, the organization has developed various methods and approaches at the operational level, and devised military tactics along a variety of lines of attack, ranging from a war of attrition in varying degrees to all-out warfare. Alongside these channels, Hezbollah has set up an extensive political, social, and informational apparatus aimed at promoting its strategic agenda.

• A broad international network , based on operational cells maintained as latent throughout the world and on sympathetic Shiite Islamic communities – the latter serving as support apparatus for the operational system and convenient sources for recruiting collaborators. Hezbollah has already proven its ability to carry out terrorist attacks in locations around the world (e.g., Argentina ), while using local apparatus and exploiting international platforms to smuggle terrorists into Israel and the Palestinian territories. Hezbollah has spread its network almost everywhere in the world where a Shiite Islamic community exists: South America , Canada , the United States , Australia , Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and of course Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East .
  
• A source of inspiration for Islamic terrorist groups worldwide. During its twenty-odd years of existence, Hezbollah has become a source of inspiration for Islamic terrorist groups throughout the world, serving an example of a brave, sophisticated and daring organization that relies on a radical Islamic doctrine and pursues a violent struggle against the United States, Israel, and the rest of the West, Israel being perceived as the “American proxy” in the Middle East. This inspiration is not only spiritual and emotional, but also operational: Its significance lies in the ability to recruit followers and encourage them to carry out terrorist attacks in the name of Islam and the far-reaching strategic goals of the organization. It is worth noting that following the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon , Hezbollah also became a source of inspiration for the Palestinian terrorist organizations. These organizations draw encouragement from Hezbollah’s experience, which proves to them that political-strategic progress can be achieved through violence and terrorism, without entering into negotiations with Israel .

• The above analysis of Hezbollah’s power factors would be incomplete without mentioning the weaknesses of this organization. Indeed, a significant number of constraints affect Hezbollah’s decision-making process and policies, the main of which is the constant need to take into account the interests of Syria and Iran , its two strategic patrons, at the same time as those of the internal Lebanese system in which it operates.

• Hezbollah therefore is a multi-faceted organization with a variety of identities existing in a permanent state of tension: the Lebanese organization that wishes to appear as defending Lebanese national interests on the one hand, and the militant Islamic jihad movement, backed by Iran and supported by Syria, striving to liberate Jerusalem, annihilate Israel, expel the Americans from the Middle East, and transform Lebanon from a multi-religious state into an Iranian-linked, predominantly Shiite, Islamic state on the other.

Chapter I: Israel and the United States as Portrayed in the Doctrine of Hezbollah

• Since its founding in 1982, Hezbollah has conducted a bloody struggle and a murderous policy aimed at promoting its strategic goals. The organization’s purpose was initially to expel the foreign troops from Lebanon . However, later on, it adopted strategic goals that extended far beyond this “unassuming” one. Hezbollah’s ideology relies on an entrenched, radical Islamic doctrine that emanates from Tehran . It is part of the Iranian revolutionary philosophy, which set as its objectives the annihilation of Israel and the struggle against the United States , the West, and their strongholds in the region.

Hatred of Israel (“that vile microbe”) and the Jewish people

• A cornerstone of Hezbollah ideology, which derives from the vision of the founder and first leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran , Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is the consistent and unyielding war against the State of Israel , until its annihilation and the “liberation” of Jerusalem . Guided by this objective and the ambition to achieve it, the organization feels committed, both ideologically and practically, to pursuing a continuous struggle against Israel , using all possible means on all fronts .

• In order to support and legitimize its terrorist activity against Israel , Hezbollah continuously emphasizes its hostile attitude toward it. The use of anti-Semitic expressions, insults, and abusive language (“vile microbe”, “cancerous tumor”) is intended to justify the goal of eliminating Israel . Most blatant of all are the statements made by the leader of the organization himself, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the main architect and chief spokesperson of Hezbollah ideology:

• “I wish to draw your attention to the threat posed by this entity which has robbed Palestine; this cancerous tumor, this vile microbe, an entity that knows no limits, that spreads out wherever Israelis are, wherever there is a remnant from the Talmud or where a Jewish rabbi once sat… Hope is rising for the fulfillment of the divine promise to eradicate this cancerous plague…” Nasrallah calls: “Death to Israel ” and the crowd chants in response: “Death to the Israelis”. [al-Manar television, May 7, 1998 ]

• “All great disasters that have befallen the region originate from the existence of Israel . As long as there is a state and its name is Israel , these disasters will persist. This is a cancerous presence in the region. If we ignore the presence of a cancer in our body, we may discover it when it is too late…Some people regard cancer as influenza…When a cancer is discovered, it must be dealt with courageously, and it must be eradicated. Part of this body and part of this blood must be sacrificed in order for this body to recover…” [al-Manar Television, April 9, 2000 ]

• Hezbollah hostility against the State of Israel is intertwined with hatred of the Jewish people . Hezbollah leaders time and again make virulent anti-Semitic statements, using both classic and Islamic anti-Semitic “arguments”. These statements are intended not only to negate Israel as a state, but also to discredit the entire Jewish people. The following are some quotations from speeches given by Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut :

• “What do the Jews want? They want security and money. Jews, from the dawn of history, are the most cowardly and greedy among Allah’s creatures. If you search the entire world, you will not find anyone stingier or greedier than the Jews.” [al-Manar Television, September 28, 2001 ]

• “Unfortunately, this year, the tenth day of the month of Muharram [Ashura: the anniversary of the establishment of the Shiah sect in early Islamic history] falls close to the fiftieth anniversary of the bitter and tragic historical disaster of the foundation of the state of the descendants of apes and pigs, in other words the Zionist Jews…” [al-Manar Television, May 7, 1998 ]

• “If we would have gathered the blood spilled and the money wasted in Iran , Iraq , and the Umma [the Islamic nation] during the eight years of war, it would have been enough in order to free Palestine dozens of times and eradicate Israel tens of times. True or false? ” [al-Manar Television, February 7, 2003 ]

• Hezbollah ’s philosophy rules out any possibility of a future peace agreement with Israel , of recognizing it as national entity in the region, or of peaceful co-existence with it . Hezbollah is consistent in expressing its steadfast opposition to any attempts towards achieving a peace settlement in the region. It strongly criticizes all those who negotiate with Israel , in order to increase the pressure exerted on them by Arab public opinion. It has been especially adamant during recent years in preventing any peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians by means of maintaining the state of violence and terrorism in the Palestinian territories. Following are a few statements by Hassan Nasrallah:

• “We claim that once Arafat threw the gun away and decided to resort to negotiation on the Palestinian issue, he proved that he is a Jew…The Taba Agreement is nothing but another nail in the coffin of the humiliating settlement [between Israel and the Palestinians]. Sooner or later this people [the Palestinians] will judge the one who imposes such agreements upon his people.” [Hassan Nasrallah, al-Manar Television, September 30, 1995 , in response to the signing of the Taba Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians]

• “There is no life and no co-existence with Israel; there is only one slogan: Death to Israel.” [Hassan Nasrallah, al-Manar Television, April 26, 1999 ]

• Hezbollah uses such ideology to justify its terrorist activity against civilians. In order to legitimize attacks against civilians, Hassan Nasrallah designates the entire Israeli population, including women, children, and the elderly, as a “military population”. According to this view, there are no innocent people, and each civilian must be fought against:

• “In our opinion, Israeli society is clearly a military society. We regard the Israeli entity as an imperialist frontal military base injected into the heart of the Arab and Islamic worlds. This is a society of warfare, a military society of warriors, men and women alike. There is no civilian society in this entity.” [Hassan Nasrallah, al-Manar Television, December 27, 1997 ]
  
  

• “Suicide attacks shake the enemy from within, they plunge him into an existential crisis, and thus prepare the ground for victory; these acts are completely legitimate, since there are no innocent civilians in Israel ; rather they all are occupiers and accomplices to crime and massacre .” [Hassan Nasrallah, al-Manar Television, September 14, 2001 ]

• Hezbollah constantly refers to its ambition of achieving a “balance of deterrence” vis-a-vis Israel , with the alleged purpose of averting Israeli “aggression” against Lebanon and “defending” Lebanon , its borders, and its waters. In reality, however, Hezbollah does not conduct a defensive policy; rather it initiates and carries out terrorist attacks against Israeli targets—long after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon . By doing so, it expresses its headstrong opposition to the implementation of Resolution 425 of the UN Security Council, the purpose of which was to establish peace and security on both sides of the border. The true meaning of “balance of deterrence”, as perceived by Hezbollah, is justifying the terrorist acts that it initiates against Israel , while deterring the latter from any retaliation against Hezbollah or the countries backing it.

• The strategy of “asymmetric attrition” : the operational activity of Hezbollah is based on the principle of “asymmetric attrition”, a strategy aimed at generating continuous pressure on Israel by means of persistent terrorist activity, in defiance of Israel ’s military superiority . Hezbollah, as a rule, voices contempt for the resilience of Israeli society, depicting it as a traumatized body and a cobweb. It draws confidence from the internal pressures in Israel that led to the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon . In Hezbollah’s view, the only way to annihilate Israel —albeit a lengthy process—is by persevering in the armed struggle against it and striking at Israel ’s weak spot , i.e., its civilian population. Hezbollah’s contempt for the resilience of Israeli society is illustrated in the following statements by Hassan Nasrallah:

• “ Israel is a myth and a fiction, as it was established on the foundations of arrogance…The prevalent spirit among Israeli society is one of defeat…The Jews are a bunch of financiers, they are not capable of sacrifice… They did not come to Palestine in order to sacrifice themselves…The British, which represent the West and were succeeded by the United States , are the ones responsible for bringing the Jews together into Palestine , in order to serve Western interests. They would otherwise not have arrived here…The Jews will not sacrifice themselves on behalf of the country called Israel .” [al-Manar Television, August 19, 2000 ]

Hatred of the United States (“the big Satan”)

• Consistent with its hatred of Israel , Hezbollah also bears deep hostility against the United States . This hostility, one of the main components of Hezbollah’s ideology, has its roots in the Iranian revolutionary doctrine, which defines the United States as “the big Satan”. This ideological hostility against the United States found tangible expression in a series of terrorist attacks carried out by Hezbollah against the United States in 1982; during these attacks, dozens of Americans were killed in military as well as civilian compounds in the Middle East ( Lebanon and Saudi Arabia )¹. This hostility is evidenced in statements of the leaders of Hezbollah, in particular Hassan Nasrallah himself:

• “If Albright and Clinton and the rest of the Americans thought that, should they attack Hezbollah from Washington, then we would tremble and fear, let them know that we shall rejoice; because when they attack us through politics, through the media and with their army, it only strengthens our conviction and our belief that truth is at our side. When the Satan curses us, it means that Allah is by our side.” [Radio Nur, February 16, 2000 ]

• Hezbollah regards the United States as an imperialist country and claims that its political objective is to dominate the entire region and rob the Arabs of their natural resources, using Israel to implement this policy. During a conference held in Damascus on January 25-27, 2003, the purpose of which was to advocate the boycott of American products, Nasrallah appealed to the audience as follows: “We must discontinue all contacts with the United States and the American people, and adhere to the Arab boycott against Israel…The Arabs must understand that Israel is merely a battalion of the American army, and that the United Statesis the principal enemy.”[Radio Nur, January 26, 2003 ]

• Hezbollah exploits any occasion to agitate against the United States and even threaten it. For example, when the Americans mentioned their intention of moving their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Nasrallah stated: “The Palestinian people’s response should be as follows: You may move your embassy to Jerusalem and bring along your diplomats, but those who have dignity are capable of turning your embassy into ruins, and returning your diplomats to you in coffins. This is the only language that America and Israel understand” [al-Manar Television, July 30, 2000 ]. It should be noted that statements of this kind are circulated by the Arab media throughout the Arab and Islamic world, thus contributing to stirring up hatred of the United States .

• The American war against global terrorism in the wake of September 11 has resulted in boosting Hezbollah incitement and propaganda against the United States . From the onset of this campaign, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, has stepped up the frequency of his criticism against the United States and its policies:
  
  • “The Arab nations cannot be destroyed or isolated in the desert and the mountains. Never! In this region, there are living nations that will never surrender to any invader! I therefore foresee: The beginning of the large-scale American-Israeli offensive against our region will mean the end of the American domination of the world. [This will happen] because it [the United States] will find itself involved in a new and unequal confrontation; in such a battleground, those who function as commanders, officers, and soldiers are the common people, and not a state that could be threatened, or any specific organization that may be crumbled and whose financial resources may be frozen.”
    
  • “This is the war of a despotic, arrogant, and cruel country against the nations of the world—the nations of the Arab world, Islam and the Muslims, the Latin American countries, the Christians, the Buddhists, the Hindus, and the idolaters. It is the war of a cruel, despotic, and arrogant country against all those who refuse to yield to it…Let us adopt the definition of Imam Khomeini, who said that this is the war of the arrogant ones against the oppressed people of the world.” [al-Manar Television, November 11, 2001 ]
    
  • “If they insist on [conducting] a war and [embarking on] a full-scale confrontation… the Americans will find themselves on a battlefield where they cannot tip the balance, as their aircraft will be of no use to them, nor will the tanks, the trade embargo, or the freezing of funds… for in this nation we can speak of millions of youngsters, each of whom, no matter which country he comes from or which organization he belongs to, will purchase, by his own means and by the sweat of his brow, a weapon, a knife or explosives, in order to fight those invaders.”[al-Manar Television, January 26, 2003 ]
    
• Hezbollah thus runs an anti-American incitement campaign and propaganda apparatus in Lebanon , backed by Iran , which reverberates throughout the Arab and Islamic world. Its principal means of transmitting hate messages and propaganda are al-Manar Television,Radio Nur, and websites operated by the organization. Additional Arab television channels help circulate the hate messages by offering a public stage to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who enjoys great popularity in the Arab world, and by quoting al-Manar Television and other Hezbollah-controlled media. Al-Manar Television, however, remains the principal means of mass communication used in the campaign against the United States :
  
• During the second half of October 2002, a poisonous anti-American video clip was screened on al-ManarTelevision several times daily, especially before the news broadcasts. The clip appeared only on the satellite channel (and not on the local channel), over which it was sure to reach the Arab and worldwide viewing public. The highlight of the clip was the image of the Statue of Liberty, the face of which was replaced by a skull. The Statue was shown brandishing a knife, with two cannons deployed at its feet.

• During a ceremony held in Beirut in commemoration of “Martyr’s Day”, Hassan Nasrallah, after attacking the United States , shouted: “Death to America !” Hezbollah terrorists who attended the ceremony raised their hands in salute and echoed the call “Death to America !” Nasrallah responded: “ America will not die this way. You must raise your voices!” [al-Manar Television, November 11, 2001 ]
  

The doctrine of Hezbollah: Suicide attacks (“the shortest road to Allah”) are of supreme value

• A major component in Hezbollah’s moral support of and informational assistance to Palestinian violence is its backing of suicide attacks carried out by Palestinians in Israel . Hezbollah regards suicide bombings as istishhad, or the sacrifice of one’s own life for the sanctification of Allah’s name, in the context of an Islamic military campaign against the enemy. Istishhad is a sacred value embodying the “spirit of resistance” and the culture surrounding it (as opposed to intihar, which refers to “plain” suicide on personal grounds, which is prohibited by Islamic law). According to Hezbollah doctrine, this sacrifice does not limit itself to a one-time act but it represents a general way of life and a culture that the Palestinians should embrace in imitation of the Lebanese Shiite model created by Hezbollah.

• From the practical point of view, Hezbollah was the originator, in Lebanon , of the “innovative” doctrine advocating the widespread use of the “weapon of suicide” to promote strategic goals. Hezbollah recorded several remarkable achievements, such as the withdrawal of the Western forces and the Israeli army from Lebanon . Hezbollah applied the “weapon of suicide” in a series of spectacular terrorist attacks against Western and Israeli targets in Lebanon during the 1980s and the 1990s, using car bombs operated by suicide terrorists and lone suicide bombers. Its terrorist activities have served as source of inspiration for Palestinian terrorist organizations such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, who adopted the suicide weapon as a means of perpetuating and escalating the violent struggle against Israel . Hezbollah, inspired by Syria and Iran , encourages the Palestinians to keep up the practice of the “weapon of suicide”. It applies ideological justification to legitimize using this practice against the civilian population, and it prompts the entire Arab world to use this weapon against the Americans.

• The theme of the “weapon of suicide” occupies a central place in Hassan Nasrallah’s speeches. For example, Nasrallah states [al-Manar Television, May 21, 2001] that “in the culture of resistance, the culmination of humanity and human dignity is the decision to perform istishhad in order to grant life to one’s people and dignity to one’s nation and homeland”. In this respect, the Deputy Secretary General of Hezbollah,Sheikh Naim Qassem claimed [al-Manar Television, October 10, 2002 ]: “All people must aspire to shahada [martyrdom by suicide for the sake of Allah]”. Nasrallah even defied religious rulings that oppose the practice of suicide when he appealed to the Palestinians [al-Manar Television, December 14, 2002 ] to disobey “all those who tell you that it is prohibited to carry out acts of istishhad”, adding that these acts are “the shortest road to Allah”.

• It is noteworthy that Sheikh Naim Qassem devotes a chapter in his book Hezbollah: Methodology… Experience… Future to the motive of suicide. In this book, recently published in Beirut , the Sheikh analyzes the religious ruling authorizing suicide acts (istishhad), and refers to these acts as “the main source of power on which one can rely, and the effectiveness of which has been clearly proven”. The Sheikh acclaims the achievements of these acts in Lebanon , but stresses that the use of this “weapon” must be selective, i.e., limited to operations that are sure to cause the enemy many casualties, in order not to “waste” this weapon on “routine” terrorist acts.
  
  

• Appendices :

• Statements made by senior members of Hezbollah on the annihilation of Israel and engaging in violent struggle against it – see Appendix 12.

Chapter II: Characteristics of Hezbollah’s

Political and Military Wings

The “political wing” and the “military wing”:
Inseparable twins

• In order to counter the American definition of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, European countries have suggested that a distinction be drawn between the military (terrorist) wing and the political (“legitimate”) wing of the organization. Lebanese government officials have gone one step further and attempted to depict Hezbollah as a political movement, devoid of military or terrorist characteristics. These suggestions are unfounded, as is evidenced by some of Hezbollah’s spokesmen themselves:
  

• The above statement by Fannish is wellsubstantiated by the organizational structure of Hezbollah. From its establishment, the organization has undergone an accelerated development process resulting in its evolution into a number of wings and divisions: political, military, social, and informational. This evolution reflects Hezbollah’s growing strength and stature on the Lebanese scene, and its determination not to limit its activities to the military-terrorist spheres of its agenda. The governing body of Hezbollah is, as mentioned, the Decision-Making Shura Council, or Majlis Shura al-Qarar¹. It comprises nine members, seven of whom are Lebanese and two Iranian, the latter representing the interests of Iran, the organization’s strategic patron. Therefore, any attempt to depict Hezbollah as a purely Lebanese organization with no Iranian links is groundless.

• The Decision-Making Shura Council is headed by Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Subordinate to the Council are several sub-councils, including the Political Council, the Military Council, the Judicial Council and several other organs. The general concept is one of a centralized leadership that controls all aspects of the organization, including its military-terrorist activity.

The Organizational structure of Hezbollah

• The activities of all the sub-councils, in particular the Political Council and the Military Council, are determined in detail by the organization’s Secretary General and the Decision-Making Shura Council. Decisions are translated into explicit policy derived from the organization’s ideology and strategy, alongside an array of considerations and restraints mainly related to the interests of Iran and Syria, the organization’s patrons. The differentiation between the organization’s military-operational and political-social activity is therefore totally unfounded.

• Senior members of Hezbollah deny any such differentiation, arguing that Hezbollah, in all its aspects, is a single organic entity whose policy and activity are determined by its leadership. Thus, when asked: “Who makes the decisions regarding operations: the militia or the political leadership?” Hezbollah leader Nasrallah responded:
  

• Sheikh Naim Qassem, Nasrallah’s deputy, expressed similar views on this matter:

• “We are a political party whose top priority is resistance. For the struggle against Israel and the policy of opposing the occupation are acts of a political party. We believe that our political endeavors are combined with our resistance operations, which cannot be separated from our political activity.” [Lebanese Television, January 23, 2003]

• “If the military wing were separated from the political wing, this would have repercussions, and it would reflect on the political scene. But Hezbollah has one single leadership, and its name is the Decision-Making Shura Council. It manages the political activity, the Jihad [i.e., the military] activity, the cultural and the social activities…Hezbollah’s Secretary General is the head of the Shura Council and also the head of the Jihad Council, and this means that we have one leadership, with one administration.” [al-Mustaqbal, December 31, 2000]

Hezbollah’s leadership

Two figures stand out at the top echelon of Hezbollah’s hierarchy, occupying leading positions in directing the organization’s political and military activity: the leader of the organization Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy, in charge of the military apparatus, Imad Fayez Mughniyah. The following is a profile of both leaders and their achievements:

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the organization and the brain behind its political and military activity

• Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah , 41, is a Shiite, born in the village Bazouriya in southern Lebanon . During his adolescent years he received a religious education in the town of Najaf in Iraq , as protégé of Sheikh Abbas Musawi, whom he later succeeded as leader of Hezbollah. He is the father of four children, the eldest of whom, Hadi, was killed in a clash with the Israeli army in 1997. His family lives in the Shiite Bir al-Abed neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Beirut , a Hezbollah stronghold and home of the organization’s headquarters.

• During the 1970s, Nasrallah, still a youth, joined Amal, a pragmatic Shiite movement founded in Lebanon by Imam Mussa Sadr to promote the interests of the Shiite community. He filled a number of positions in Amal, first as being in charge of the Bekaa Desk, then as regional presiding judge in charge of discipline, and eventually as a member of Amal’s Political Bureau. Around that time, Nasrallah also joined a radical Shiite Islamic movement, the al-Da’wa party, one of whose leaders was Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, the most prominent clerical authority in the Shiite community. Many of al-Da’wa’s members were later to join Hezbollah.

• In 1982, Hassan Nasrallah resigned from Amal, along with many others who were eager to carry out Khomeini’s doctrine; together with other Shiite elements and with the assistance of Iran , they founded Hezbollah. Nasrallah was granted a senior position in the organization’s founding nucleus. Soon after, he was placed in charge of the Bekaa region, the cradle of Hezbollah. He was only 22 years old.

• In 1985, Hassan Nasrallah moved to Beirut and was appointed Deputy Chair of the Beirut Council, one of the three wings of Hezbollah at the time. Within a few months he took charge of the organizational and military affairs of the city, and became responsible for the Recruiting Unit of the organization. In addition, he served as member of the Political Bureau of Hezbollah, which at that time functioned as the organization’s advisory body. In 1987 he was promoted to a function that was created for him: head of the Executive Council, and in this capacity became a member of the Decision-Making Shura Council. Nasrallah held these positions until the killing of the leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Abbas Musawi, by Israeli troops on February 16, 1992 . Nasrallah was only 32 when he succeeded Musawi. Iran ’s then-President, Hashemi Rafsanjani, supported his appointment. Since then, he has been reappointed three times as head of the organization. In July 2001, he began his fourth term, following an amendment to the Hezbollah charter, which until 1998 allowed the leader of the organization to serve only two terms.

• During the 1990s, Hassan Nasrallah strengthened his relations with the Iranian authorities, in particular with the leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who assigned him as his delegate in Lebanon on religious matters in the mid- 1990s. Nasrallah travels several times yearly to Iran to conduct close consultations with the Iranian leadership, during which decisions are made regarding the policy and operation of Hezbollah. It should be noted that the leadership in Iran places great confidence in Nasrallah, and values his judgment

• Today Nasrallah is the undisputed leader of Hezbollah. He is the principal authority and foremost decision-maker of the organization, and enjoys the unreserved support of Iran and Syria. Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000 has further strengthened his position as the leader who succeeded in “expelling Israel by military force” without extending it any political “rewards”.

• Nasrallah holds his cards close to his chest, particularly regarding the delicate issue of the Israeli hostages held by Hezbollah, which involves only a strictly limited circle of operatives of the organization. Nasrallah personally conducts and supervises all dealings concerning this issue, and is adamant in his refusal to disclose even the smallest item of information. By doing so, he entirely disregards the basic humanitarian principles that are commonly upheld in the international community. He refuses to give information on the conditions of hostages, or to grant them their most basic human rights such as meeting Red Cross delegates, receiving health services, or communicating with their families. As early as the 1980s, Hezbollah hostages from the West were subjected to these conditions.
  

• Character description: Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stands out as a tough, autocratic, and charismatic leader, a gifted speaker who enjoys the personality cult surrounding him, and insists on being personally involved in all of Hezbollah’s activities.

• In spite of his young age and fierce rhetoric, Nasrallah is evidently a prudent leader and pragmatic in his dealings.He is careful to maintain close relations with his patrons in Tehran and Damascus, especially since the upgrading of his relations with the latter after Bashar al-Assad became president of Syria in July 2000.

• Hassan Nasrallah enjoys uncontested authority within the organization. During recent months, the continued Palestinian Intifada and the American preparations for the war against Iraq clearly motivated him to aspire to a broader leadership, reaching beyond the local Lebanese scene.

Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Imad Fayez Mughniyah: the person in charge of the organization’s military wing and a senior terrorist on the US wanted list

• Imad Fayez Mughniyah (aka “al-Mukhtar” / “Abu-Salim” / “Jawad” / “Nur al-Din”) is of Shiite origin, born on July 12, 1962 in the village Tayr Dibbah in southern Lebanon . Mughniyah is one of the ten most wanted terrorists in the United States . An international warrant of extradition has been issued in respect of him.

• In the late 1970s, during the Lebanese civil war (which began in 1975), Mughniyah joined the ranks of Arafat’s Fatah organization. In 1982, when the PLO evacuated Lebanon, Mughniyah remained behind and became a member of Hezbollah. Thanks to his close links with Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, the senior clerical authority and perhaps the most prominent figure in the Shiite community in Lebanon, he soon became head of the organization’s security apparatus. In the middle of the 1980s, Mughniyah was behind the founding of Hezbollah’s terrorist wing operating under the cover name of “Islamic Jihad”.
  

• In the light of his status as a wanted terrorist in the United States, and Hezbollah’s interest in diminishing the terrorist image of the organization, Hezbollah spokespeople deny any links with Imad Mughniyah. The chair of the Hezbollah party in the Lebanese Parliament, Muhammad Raad, once referred to Mughniyah as a “Jihad warrior not connected to Hezbollah” [LBC, November 19, 2002]. This statement is untrue and unsubstantiated since, to the best of our knowledge, Mughniyah continues to be in charge of Hezbollah’s military and terrorist activity and occupies the position of second-in-command of the organization.

• What makes Mughniyah one of the United States’ most wanted terrorists? Mughniyah has been implicated in numerous terrorist acts against many targets. He is responsible for a number of terrorist operations in Lebanon and abroad, including aircraft hijackings, kidnappings of Western hostages, and terrorist attacks against Israel as well as against American and Western targets in Lebanon and abroad.

• The following are some of the more conspicuous terrorist attacks in which Mughniyah has been involved:

• The bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut on April 18, 1983 resulting in 63 deaths. The attack was carried out through a car bomb driven by a suicide terrorist. This attack was probably the result of Syria’s concern about the impending signing of an agreement between Israel and Lebanon under American auspices (which was indeed signed a month later, on May 17, 1983).

• The bombing of the US embassy was the first in a line of suicidecar bombings, among them the bombing of the US Marine Corps compound in Beirut and the attack against the French unit of the Multinational Force, both carried out in October 1983.

• The attack against the US Marine Corps compound in Beirut was a particularly spectacular one. It involved a large truck carrying a cargo of 5,450 kg of TNT, which broke into the compound through the front gate, burst in, and exploded, destroying the whole building and killing 241 American troops. The FBI Forensic Laboratory described the bombing as the largest conventional attack in the world ever investigated by its experts [Source: the FBI investigation report as cited by the Marine Corps Gazette, February 1984].

• Additional terrorist activity in which Mughniyah was implicated: the bombing of the US Embassy in Kuwait in 1983 and 1984; the kidnapping and murder of CIA operative William Buckley in Lebanon in 1983; the murder of Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins of the UN Observer Mission in southern Lebanon in 1988; the hijacking of the TWA aircraft in 1985, resulting in one death; the hijacking of two Kuwaiti Airlines aircraft in 1984 and 1988; the kidnappings of dozens of Western civilians in Lebanon, carried out under the cover of various organizations, and the murder of many of them in the 1980s; the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992, resulting in 34 deaths; the bombing of the AMIA (Argentinian-Israeli Mutual Association) building of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires in 1994, resulting in 86 deaths; and the bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996, resulting in six deaths.

Imad Mughniyah: a senior terrorist on the US wanted list

[Source: the FBI website
http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/terrorists/termugniyah.htm ]

Alias: -Hajj

DESCRIPTION

Date of Birth Used:  -1962-Hair:-Brown

Place of Birth: - Lebanon -Eyes:-Unknown

Height: -5'7"-Sex:-Male

Weight: -145 to 150 pounds-Citizenship:-Lebanese

Build: -Unknown- - 

Language: -Arabic

Scars and Marks: -None known

Remarks: - Mugniyah is the alleged head of the security apparatus for the terrorist organization, Lebanese Hizballah. He is thought to be in Lebanon.

CAUTION

Imad Fayez Mugniyah was indicted for his role in planning and participation in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of a commercial airliner which resulted in the assault on various passengers and crew members, and the murder of one U.S. citizen.

REWARD The Rewards For Justice Program, United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension and/or conviction of Imad Fayez Mugniyah.

Indoctrination and propaganda:

Hezbollah’s extensive use of the media to inculcate its vision and propagate the struggle against Israel and the West

• Hezbollah relies to a large extent on its widespread media network in order to propagate its doctrine and its vision to all of its followers in Lebanon and the Arab and Islamic world. It also uses its communications network as a means of transmitting messages to various recipients, including the Western countries and even the Israeli public, its sworn enemy.

• The organization operates a number of powerful means of communications, the most prominent of which are al-Manar Television and Radio Nur. These channels provide continuous coverage of events in Lebanon , the Middle East , and worldwide, and broadcast statements issued by Hassan Nasrallah and other senior members of Hezbollah. Hezbollah also publishes two leading magazines, al-Intiqad, which deals with political issues, and Baqiatollah, which addresses religious matters.

• Hezbollah makes extensive use of the Internet ; the organization operates an official website (www.hizbollah.tv), which provides updated information on its activity and quotations of its leaders’ statements. Its contents comprise video clips, photographs, speeches by senior members of the organization, and narratives of “achievements” by Hezbollah operatives. It also features highlighted messages that the organization intends to convey to its target users, i.e., its followers and the Arab and Western public. An additional website is www.nasrollah.org, Hassan Nasrallah’s personal site in which the leader of Hezbollah is portrayed as the emissary of the Iranian leader and the “exporter” of the Islamic Revolution. Aside from these, each of the organization’s electronic and printed media has its own website.
  

• Throughout its multiple communication channels, Hezbollah avails itself of advanced technology and spectacular effects (presumably with the assistance of Iran ) to produce slick propaganda films and clips. This use of the media evidences the organization’s awareness of its importance in its war on the public’s consciousness. Hence its endeavors—paired with significant Iranian investments—to promote this sphere of activity in order to position itself at the forefront of communication technology.

• An important role of Hezbollah’s media network is its utilization for the purpose of incitement and propaganda aimed at reaching a large public in the Arab world, in particular the Palestinians. Mass media are drafted to promote the Palestinian armed struggle, provoke the escalation of terrorism, exert pressure on the moderate / pro-Western Arab regimes, and enhance the status and impact of Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. They also serve the organization as a means of transmitting propaganda broadcasts to the Israeli public, applying psychological warfare tactics in order to achieve demoralization and encourage surrender and emigration from Israel .
  

The financial sources of Hezbollah

• Western intelligence sources estimate Hezbollah’s yearly budget at approximately $100 million, originating primarily from Iran . This sum finances the organization’s military-terrorist activity (arms purchases, salaries to the militia, training of the militia, and so forth); the operation of communal institutions such as schools, hospitals, and relief institutions, and the coverage of overhead expenses that derive from the various activities of Hezbollah (rent, office equipment, salaries to non-militia members, and so forth).

• More than half of Hezbollah’s budget originates from Iran via two main channels:

• Governmental institutions - Part of Hezbollah’s budget is financed through the Revolutionary Guards (represented by the al-Quds Force) and the Iranian Foreign Ministry (by means of the embassies in Damascus and Beirut ).

• Semi-governmental institutions - After the 1979 revolution, a number of charity funds were established in Iran , which operated and continue to operate under the supervision of the Iranian leader. These funds have branches in Lebanon, which serve the purpose of “exporting the revolution” by extending wide-ranging financial and social assistance to Hezbollah and the Shiite population that identifies with the organization.

• Aside from receiving institutionalized assistance from Iran , Hezbollah has strived for years to develop its own additional sources of financing through a global funding apparatus. This supplementary funding, however modest in comparison to Iranian support, may have been motivated by the organization’s ambition to reduce its total dependence on Iranian support. Additional financing sources include:

• Fundraising in Lebanon and worldwide : Hezbollah conducts fundraising activity in Lebanon and worldwide (mainly in Shiite-Muslim communities) amounting to several millions of US dollars yearly. In Lebanon , this fundraising is carried out via the Islamic Resistance Support Association, affiliated with Hezbollah. Outside Lebanon , fundraisers operate by means of charity funds (similar to the fundraising practices of Hamas) and through local Shiite community centers. The main centers of fundraising activity outside Lebanon are located in the Ivory Coast and the tri-border region in South America; fundraising also thrives in the United States and Western Europe (see Chapter IV below).

• Legitimate business activity - This comprises commercial firms owned by Hezbollah or its affiliated charitable institutions, as well as a range of business activities conducted by Hezbollah operatives themselves, such as oil transactions, real estate, and small businesses.
  
• Criminal activity in Lebanon and worldwide : Hezbollah operatives engage in two main types of criminal activity: trafficking in illegal drugs and moneyforgery (specializing in the forgery of US $100 bills) , which is carried out in Hezbollah-controlled areas of the Bekaa region. Other criminal activity includes cigarette smuggling, car thefts, and credit card forgery. It is o