On August 25, 2019, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave a belligerent speech claiming Israel was behind the two attacks in Lebanon and Syria: a quadcopter attack on the southern Shi'ite suburbs of Beirut (Israel did not claim responsibility) and the aerial attack on a base southwest of Damascus (Israel did claim responsibility). Read more...
One of the civilian spheres of activity to which Hezbollah dedicates much attention is art and culture. Hezbollah’s activity in this field includes, among other things, lectures to Hezbollah operatives and supporters given by clerics, MPs, academics and military operatives; organization of painting exhibitions and “jihadi exhibitions” (displaying weapons used by Hezbollah and belongings of shahids); production of films, plays, and concerts (including an extensive import of culture products from Iran); and the publication of books on Shiite Islam, with an emphasis on support of Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Read more...
In light on the ongoing escalation between Iran and the United States in the Persian Gulf, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Shamkhani, threatened that in the event of a military confrontation between Iran and the United States, Tehran will utilize proxies against the United States and its allies in the region. The spokesman of the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs labeled the understanding reached between the United States and Turkey concerning the establishment of a joint operations room near the Turkish-Syrian border “provocative and concerning.” He reiterated that there is no need for intervention of foreign powers to maintain security in northern Syria. The Iraqi Minister of Interior, Yassin al-Yaseri, visited Tehran in mid-August to discuss the coordination between the two countries ahead of the Arabeen ceremony, the pilgrimage to the Shi’ite holy sites in Iraq. The secretary general of the Iraqi pro-Iranian militia, Kataeb Hezbollah, visited Iran and declared that the Iraqi Shi’ite militias see the leadership of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, as a continuation of the rule of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Shi’ite Imam, Ali. Read more...
One of the most important social institutions is the Islamic Health Organization, which provides medical services to Hezbollah operatives and the entire Shiite population. This organization, has an extensive network of hospitals, medical centers and clinics among the Shiite population throughout Lebanon. This medical infrastructure provides medical services to nearly two million people, i.e., most of the Shiite residents of Lebanon. These services are either subsidized or provided free of charge, so they are most attractive in a country where medical services are very expensive. Read more...
In late July, the Commander of the Qods Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Qasem Soleimani, visited the Albu Kamal crossing connecting Syria and Iraq and met with commanders of pro-Iranian militias in the region. In the economic sphere, Iran is preparing to participate in the international fair set to be held in Damascus soon. In early August, a delegation of high-ranking commanders of the Iraqi Shi’ite pro-Iranian militia, Harakat al-Nujaba’, visited Iran. Recent reports about the visit of the Hamas delegation to Tehran at the end of July indicate that during the visit, the representatives of Iran and Hamas agreed to expand cooperation between them. These reports indicate that Iran promised Hamas to advocate on its behalf with the Syrian regime, to allow Hamas’ leadership to return to Damascus and improve relations between the Palestinian faction and the Syrian leadership, after the rift emerged between the two sides following the outbreak of the civil war in Syria. Read more...
Since its inception, the Lebanese Hezbollah has been inculcating the ideology of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in the Shiites in Lebanon, establishing the personality cult of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, and emphasizing that Hezbollah is totally subject to the Supreme Leader (see appendices A, C and D Read more...
