A History of Hezbollah (Throwback)

Summary

Throughline: A History of Hezbollah (Throwback) – Detailed Summary

Release Date: September 26, 2024
Hosts: Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei
Produced by NPR

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Introduction

In the episode titled "A History of Hezbollah," NPR's Throughline delves deep into the origins, evolution, and current state of Hezbollah, a pivotal and often controversial player in Middle Eastern politics. Hosted by Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, the episode traverses through historical events, ideological shifts, and geopolitical maneuvers that have shaped Hezbollah's role both within Lebanon and on the global stage.

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The Genesis of Hezbollah

Early Catalysts

The seeds of Hezbollah were sown during Lebanon's tumultuous civil war, which erupted in 1975. The conflict was ignited by the killing of 27 people in an ambush by the Falangist Christian militia on a Palestinian bus, an event that served as the proverbial "match thrown onto a powder keg of ethnic and religious tension" (Ramtin Arablouei, 12:50).

Religious and Ethnic Complexities

Lebanon's diverse tapestry, comprising 18 officially recognized religious sects, set the stage for deep-seated friction. The Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Shi'a Muslims were the predominant groups, each with historical grievances and aspirations. The introduction of Palestinian refugees and militants added another layer of complexity, disrupting the fragile balance maintained by the Lebanese quota system established during independence in 1943. Notably, the Shia Muslim population felt increasingly marginalized, fueling discontent and the desire for empowerment (Ramtin Arablouei, 10:06; Kim Qatas, 11:01).

Foreign Involvement

The Lebanese Civil War quickly transformed into a proxy battleground for regional and international powers. Iran, under the newly established Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Khomeini, sought to export its Islamic revolution. Concurrently, Israel intervened militarily, supporting Christian militias like the Falangists to combat the PLO and later Hezbollah (Orli Daher, 25:30; Sergeant Stephen Russell, 22:03).

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Formation and Rise of Hezbollah

Iranian Influence and Military Training

In response to Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Iran dispatched Iranian Revolutionary Guards to support Lebanese Shia clerics. This collaboration led to the formation of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon (IRL), which later evolved into Hezbollah. The group's initial objectives were threefold: disseminate their ideology, recruit members, and provide social welfare to affected civilians (Orli Daher, 26:36; Sergeant Stephen Russell, 27:05).

Building a Support Base

Hezbollah's strategy extended beyond military engagement. By establishing a network of civilian institutions, including social welfare, religious, educational, and medical services, Hezbollah positioned itself as both a resistance force and a provider for the Shia community. This dual role facilitated recruitment and garnered support, portraying Hezbollah as defenders of Lebanon against external threats (Help Me Voice, 27:20; Orli Daher, 27:38).

First Major Attacks and International Attention

Hezbollah's first significant military action against Israel occurred in November 1982 with a suicide bombing targeting Israeli headquarters in Tyre. This act marked Hezbollah's growing sophistication and commitment to opposing Israeli occupation, setting the stage for further high-profile attacks, including the infamous 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut (Kim Qatas, 30:07; Sergeant Stephen Russell, 30:20).

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Political Integration and Consolidation of Power

Entering the Political Sphere

Despite being a militant organization, Hezbollah began to engage in Lebanese politics in the early 2000s. By contesting elections and securing parliamentary seats, Hezbollah integrated itself into the Lebanese political system while maintaining its independent military wing. This dual presence allowed Hezbollah to influence national policies while safeguarding its armed capabilities (Help Me Voice, 40:47; Ramtin Arablouei, 41:04).

Assassinations and Retaliations

Hezbollah's ascent was marred by violent confrontations with political opponents. The assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, widely attributed to Hezbollah members, underscored the group's willingness to eliminate threats to its power and agenda. These actions not only eliminated political rivals but also instilled fear, consolidating Hezbollah's dominance within Lebanon (Sergeant Stephen Russell, 43:47; Help Me Voice, 44:09).

Hezbollah's Stance During the Arab Spring

The Arab Spring presented new challenges and opportunities for Hezbollah. While many Arab nations experienced uprisings seeking democratic reforms, Hezbollah remained loyal to the Assad regime in Syria, aligning with Iran's strategic interests. This allegiance strained Hezbollah's image as a defender of the Lebanese people, especially among Sunni-majority regions, and led to internal conflicts within the organization (Orli Daher, 46:57; Kim Qatas, 48:00).

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Recent Developments and Current Status

Economic and Social Challenges in Lebanon

Lebanon's economic collapse and pervasive corruption have placed Hezbollah in a precarious position. While the group continues to wield significant influence, it must navigate the country's dire economic situation and mounting public discontent. Hezbollah's ability to provide social services remains a critical factor in maintaining its support base amidst widespread hardship (Ramtin Arablouei, 48:49; Narrator, 49:12).

Conflict with Israel Post-October 7

Following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, Hezbollah found itself drawn back into active conflict with Israel. Their recent exchanges represent the most significant escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border in over a year. Balancing military engagement with domestic stability, Hezbollah seeks to uphold its resistance narrative while preventing further destabilization of Lebanon's already fragile state (Sergeant Stephen Russell, 49:31; Orli Daher, 49:41).

Hezbollah and Iran's Partnership

Hezbollah's relationship with Iran remains pivotal. While often portrayed as being under Iran's control, the partnership is characterized by shared strategic objectives rather than hierarchical dominance. Both entities aim to undermine Israeli and American influence in the region, driven by a common ideology rooted in Shia Islam and resistance against perceived Western hegemony (Narrator, 50:24; Sergeant Stephen Russell, 50:28).

Cultural and Social Influence

Hezbollah's endeavors extend into shaping Lebanon's cultural landscape. Through initiatives like the Mahdi Scouts and control over media outlets, Hezbollah promotes its narrative of resistance and social welfare. However, this influence has also led to increased religious conservatism, evidenced by the imposition of Islamic norms in previously cosmopolitan areas of Beirut, thereby narrowing the group's appeal across Lebanon's diverse population (Kim Qatas, 39:37; Help Me Voice, 40:22).

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Conclusion

Hezbollah's trajectory from a grassroots resistance movement to a formidable political and military force underscores the intricate interplay of religion, politics, and foreign intervention in the Middle East. Rooted in Lebanon's sectarian dynamics and bolstered by Iranian support, Hezbollah has navigated numerous challenges to maintain its relevance and authority. As Lebanon grapples with economic turmoil and regional tensions escalate, Hezbollah's role remains both influential and contentious, embodying the enduring complexities of Middle Eastern geopolitics.

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Notable Quotes

• Sergeant Stephen Russell (00:35): "I blame myself for what happened. A truck containing explosives was driven into the Marine headquarters building just before dawn, Beirut time today."

• Ramtin Arablouei (03:28): "The seeds of Hezbollah were sown during Lebanon's civil war and bloomed during Israel's 1982 invasion of the country."

• Kim Qatas (07:20): "In essence, that war, if we really want to simplify it, was about a right wing nationalism of Christian parties and pan Arab support for the Palestinian cause."

• Help Me Voice (20:10): "The Shia Islamic revolution in Iran was never intended to end at the borders of Iran. And so they immediately created departments and agencies whose sole purpose was to export that revolution."

• Orli Daher (26:36): "The IRL will feel the need to add to that military structure a whole network of civilian institutions."

• Matthew Levitt (20:17): "The Shia Islamic revolution in Iran was never intended to end at the borders of Iran."

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This summary captures the essence of the "A History of Hezbollah" episode, highlighting key events, ideological shifts, and the intricate relationships that have shaped Hezbollah's evolution.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

06:30 On Sunday morning, Beirut, Lebanon. Everybody was ASleep.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

This is Sergeant Stephen Russell, a U.S. marine who served in Lebanon in 1983. This is from an interview he gave to U.S. uSA Today.

[Narrator]

I blame myself for what happened. A truck containing explosives was driven into the Marine headquarters building just before dawn, Beirut time today. Then I heard the rev of an engine behind me. Truck filled with high explosives crashed through the southern gate, drove into the lobby of what was formerly the aviation safety building, saw the truck come to a stop dead center of that lobby. Dead silence in the lobby. You could hear a pin drop. And then the next thing I saw was a bright orange flash. Pounds of explosives had been packed into the truck which was driven through two barriers. The first thing I said was son of a pitch. He did it. The explosion brought down the building. The Marines asleep inside had little chance. I remember looking over my shoulder, there was one Marine back here. Those who are able to free themselves limped through the smoke and dust to safety, moaning, help me.

[Help Me Voice]

Help me, God, help me.

[Narrator]

Somebody please help me. It was not long before administration officials started suggesting that Iran may have played a part in this morning's bombing. There are among Lebanon's many factions fundamentalist.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Muslim Shiites with strong allegiance to Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.

[Narrator]

There are no words to properly express.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Our outrage and I think the outrage of all Americans. President Ronald Reagan pulled the American troops out of Lebanon in the months after the attack, which killed 241 Marines and left survivors like Sergeant Russell dealing with the trauma afterward. Initially, it wasn't clear who did it, but the blame fell on an organization called Hezbollah who deny responsibility. The group is a large paramilitary organization and political party that is directly supported by the ISL Republic of Iran. The 1983 U.S. marine barrack bombing was Hezbollah's introduction to the international community, especially the United States.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Since The Hamas led October 7th attack and Israel's invasion of Gaza, tensions have risen in the Middle East. Recently, the Israeli military and Hezbollah, the most powerful force in Lebanon, have been exchanging attacks in what's considered the most significant escalation on the Israeli Lebanese border in the last year. But the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel is not new. They've been fighting on and off for just short of 40 years. Hezbollah's reputation has almost reached a mythical level. For some, they are a vicious terrorist group that has caused death and destruction. For others, they are one of the most resilient and steadfast forces of resistance against Western power in the Middle East.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The seeds of Hezbollah were sown during Lebanon's civil war and bloomed during Israel's 1982 invasion of the country. Their story is rooted in the ethnic and religious complexity of Lebanon, the complicated geopolitics of the Middle east, and the longstanding battle for self determination in the post colonial world. I'm Ramtin Arablouei.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

And I'm Rund Abdelfatah.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And on this episode of Throughline from npr, a history of Hezbollah.

[Narrator]

Hi, this is Brian from Jersey City, New Jersey. And you're listening to Throughline from npr.

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[Ramtin Arablouei]

There are no sides April 13, 1975 Lebanon on a warm spring day, a bus carrying Palestinians to a refugee camp drives through the streets of East Beirut.

[Narrator]

A Palestinian bus was passing through a Maronite territory.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

A Maronite territory. Maronites are Eastern Christians with a strong presence in Lebanon.

[Narrator]

There were rumors that some of the people on the bus were members of the plo.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

PLO stands for Palestine Liberation Organization, the militant group that represented the Palestinian cause. They were in Lebanon after being expelled from Jordan. Some in Lebanon, including a Maronite Christian political party, the Falangists, saw them as a foreign threat.

[Kim Qatas]

The presence of these militants in Lebanon became increasingly a source of friction with the local population and namely the mostly Christian nationalist faction.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

There had been fighting back and forth between these groups for months. But on this day everything escalated. Falangia's gunmen ambushed the bus, killing 27 people. Almost immediately after the attack, fighting broke.

[Narrator]

Out between Maronite and Palestinian groups.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

The Lebanese civil war was underway.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Bloody civil strife has marred the capital of that small Arab nation for the past week.

[Narrator]

I think it's much more than just.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

A local break us between two extremist groups.

[Kim Qatas]

In essence, that war, if we really want to simplify it, was about a right wing nationalism of Christian parties and pan Arab support for the Palestinian cause.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Kim Qatas.

[Kim Qatas]

I'm a longtime journalist now author of Black Wave, a book about the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Kim is Lebanese and spoke to us from Beirut. She says the PLO and many other Palestinians arrived in Lebanon in 1970 after being expelled from Jordan. Many were refugees who'd originally been driven from their homes after the establishment of the State of Israel, which meant that.

[Kim Qatas]

Lebanon suddenly had a large population, an even larger population of Palestinian refugees, but also of armed militants who used southern Lebanon to launch attacks against northern Israel.

[Orli Daher]

Palestinians at that time had created a kind of a state within the state in the south of Lebanon.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Oreli Daher. She's an associate professor at Paris Dauphine University and lecture at Science PO Paris. And she wrote a book called Mobilization and Power.

[Orli Daher]

They were using the soil, the territory of southern Lebanon as a military base to launch attacks on the north of Israel.

[Narrator]

The Lebanese state and Lebanese society have to face up to the question of where Lebanon belongs in a much more dire way, in a much more direct way.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

That's Suna Hogbullah. He's a professor of Global Middle East Studies at Roskilda University in Denmark.

[Narrator]

Now it became a question of to what extent Lebanon should give space for Palestinian militias to attack Israel directly.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

That question became not just strategic, but it became about identity, basically. Was Lebanon going to identify more with the west or was it going to face east and support the plo?

[Narrator]

And those who argued for that mainly belonged in a camp in the Lebanese political landscape. If you want that viewed Lebanon's identity as more Arab than most Christian groups would.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This identity crisis, being stuck between Western and Middle Eastern influence has always been there for Lebanon. The country is on the Mediterranean Sea with Syria to its north and east and Israel to its south. Even during the medieval period, it was located at both a strategically important point and a cultural crossroads. Over time, this made it an incredibly diverse country. It has 18 officially recognized religious sects. The three most powerful groups are the Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shi'a Muslims. There had been friction between these groups even before Lebanon became an independent state, free of French colonial rule in 1943. In order to try to strike a balance, the Lebanese set up a quota system to try and ensure equal representation. So, for example, the larger your religious group, the more seats you get in parliament.

[Kim Qatas]

Lebanon always has a Christian president, a Sunni prime minister and Shia speaker of the House.

[Narrator]

The only problem with this is that these quotas are based on a census from 1932. So the numbers are not very reflective of the actual demographic reality. And the main outcome of that is that Christians have a larger share of representation than their numbers actually allow for. And increasingly, as particularly Shiite Muslims became a larger part of the population, they felt that they were not given a fair deal in the quota system.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This discrepancy had a material effect on the social and political reality of Shias in Lebanon.

[Kim Qatas]

Shias in Lebanon were traditionally the underclass, the dispossessed in a way, who worked menial jobs and never made it to the upper echelons of power in the country.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And this was especially apparent in the late 1960s when Lebanon was booming economically. The capital, Beirut, became an international destination for tourists and people who wanted to party. It had lavish nightclubs and a vibrant social scene. Some called it the Paris of the Middle East.

[Narrator]

That's quite a stark contrast to daily life in a Shiite village in the south. If you go to the Picar Valley or the south in the 1960s, you would find villages where people are illiterate. You would find villages where they live without electricity in very basic conditions. So that sense of being deprived, that sense of being downtrodden, was shared amongst the shiites.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

By the 1970s, an influx of Palestinian refugees and the PLO arrived, throwing whatever delicate balance that existed in Lebanon out of whack. So when the Christian philangist attacked that bus in 1975, it was like lighting a match and throwing it onto a powder keg of ethnic and religious tension.

[Narrator]

From that moment on the 13th of April, all the tensions that have been building just emerged into fighting.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The Christian philanders claim that the Muslim backed Palestinians are threatening the stability of Lebanon. The Palestinians say they are being blocked in their attempts to wage a liberation war against Israel.

[Narrator]

The streets are almost deserted, the schools, the shops the banks, almost all are closed. On the sidewalks, piles of rotting garbage foul the air. The valuable tourist season is doomed and trade is non existent.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And it didn't take long for foreign governments with interests in the region to pick their own sides in the conflict.

[Kim Qatas]

Lebanon is a small country and the fate of small countries is that they get used by regional and international powers.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Israel also armed and trained Christian groups like the Falangists to fight the plo. And on the other hand, many Muslim countries supported both the Sunnis and Shias in Lebanon that were helping the plo.

[Narrator]

And I think this is a very important point because the civil war, it becomes an arena with a multitude of different groups whose alliances change and you continue to have this upsurge in also fighting over who's actually running the state.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And in the middle of all this chaos, Israel decided that supporting Christian groups against the PLO wasn't enough. And so they made a dramatic movement.

[Orli Daher]

So in 78, Israel invaded Lebanon to push to the north the Palestinian armed groups and the Shiite community, the major community of south Lebanon. So it was the most severely hit and it was the major victim of that first invasion. Collateral damage happened and the Shia became obviously quite angry, both with the Palestinians whom they consider to be responsible for the tragedy, but also with the Israelis.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

By the close of the 1970s, the end of the civil war was nowhere in sight. Anger among Shias had spread into Lebanese society as a whole as people were fed up with the grinding, endless war and Israel's incursions. Soon the Shia, a large, mostly disempowered group, would rise up with the help of their own foreign backer, Iran. That coming up on Throughline from npr.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Hi, my name is Stephen Barrera and.

[Kim Qatas]

I'm a graduate student at Indiana University.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Here in Bloomington, Indiana. And you're listening to Throughline from npr.

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[Kim Qatas]

2 Decade of Invasions.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

1978 Iran by.

[Progressive Insurance]

Some estimates, as many as a million people participated in anti government demonstrations in Iran's capital city yesterday. And even more were in the streets today.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Unrest broke out all over the country. Iran's king or shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a close ally of the United States, was on his back foot unable to stop the protests.

[Progressive Insurance]

Some 2 million in Tehran alone shouting slogans against the Shah and against American influence in the country.

[Narrator]

Hundreds of thousands of marches carrying banners and chanting slogans in support of Ayasa Khamenei, the council religious leader who was living in exile in Paris.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Protesters rallied against a lack of political freedom and economic inequality. It was a revolution and it had a de facto leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, an Iranian Shia Muslim cleric.

[Orli Daher]

He appealed to the army to stop.

[Narrator]

Obeying the government and to join with the people. Come into our arms, he said, and we shall embrace you.

[Progressive Insurance]

More bloodshed today in Iran. Government troops reportedly opened fire on anti Shah demonstrators in several Iranian Cities. Reports say 19 people died in the political violence.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The government's response got more and more violent, but the crowds of protesters just got bigger and bigger until one day in Iran today, this announcement was heard over the radio. It was over. This is the voice of the revolution. The dictatorship has come to an end. The Shah left Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini returned. He almost immediately started trying to consolidate power.

[Narrator]

Opposition forces of the religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini appear to have effectively taken over the capital of Tehran and with it the running of the entire country.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The Iranian revolution didn't start out as an Islamic one. There were secular actors and leftists also involved. But by the end of 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini and his supporters had forcefully taken over the revolution in the name of Islam, Shia Islam.

[Help Me Voice]

We cannot overemphasize the importance of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

This is Matthew Levitt.

[Help Me Voice]

I teach at Georgetown University and I'm the author of the book the Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Matthew says that Khomeini immediately had a goal of projecting power throughout the Middle East.

[Help Me Voice]

The Shia Islamic revolution in Iran was never intended to end at the borders of Iran. And so they immediately created departments and agencies whose sole purpose was to export that revolution. And their first targets were those countries in the region that had large Shia populations. And first among equals was Lebanon.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The ties between Iran and Lebanon's Shia communities date back to the 1500s when the Safavid empire forcefully converted Iran from Sunni to Shia Islam. Currently, about 85 to 90% of the world's Muslims are Sunni and about 10 to 15% are Shia. The Iranian Safavid empire wanted Iran to become Shia in order to differentiate itself from neighboring rival empires that were Sunni. They brought Shia clerics from Lebanon to help convert the Iranian population. And in the following centuries Iran became the power center of Shi'ism.

[Help Me Voice]

There was such strong historical connections between the clerical elite in Lebanon and in Iraq and Iran. Because the elite Shia clerics had studied in the holy cities in Iran or.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

In Iraq and because Lebanon Shia community had long been oppressed. The prospect of having a state like Iran as an ally changed the balance of power in Lebanon.

[Help Me Voice]

And they were waiting for that empowerment. And they were resentful of the fact that the Paris of the Middle east was their backyard but denied to them as anybody would be.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

But Iran's plan to export the revolution.

[Help Me Voice]

Went on pause in a big way because of the Iran Iraq war.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

In 1980, seeing Iran weakened by the revolution, Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator, unleashed an all out invasion of Iran's oil rich southern county of Khurram Shah.

[Help Me Voice]

This was an existential fight for Iran and the effort to export the revolution was secondary.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

But that would all change. In 1982, Israeli military forces entered southern Lebanon again to push back the PLO. Unlike their push into the south in 1978, this invasion was larger and went farther. Israel hoped to push Palestinian militants 25 miles away from the border.

[Kim Qatas]

That was the initial stated goal.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

This is Kim Ratas again.

[Kim Qatas]

But Israel's then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon had grander vision.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

He wanted to do more than just push back Palestinian militants from the border.

[Kim Qatas]

He decided to push all the way.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

To Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

[Kim Qatas]

So the goal became not just to push the PLO away from the border with Israel, but to push them out of Lebanon completely.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The PLO and associated militias tried to fight back but were overwhelmed by Israel's advanced weapons and tactics. Eventually, the Israeli military laid siege to Beirut.

[Kim Qatas]

The siege of Beirut was painful and devastating. No water, no fuel, no food. And it came also at, you know, great civilian cost. And the toll was high.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

In Lebanon, Israel laid siege to Beirut in order to push out PLO fighters hunkered down there and to install a new government.

[Kim Qatas]

Israel was hoping that it could have a friendly pro Israel Christian president because it already had deep ties with Christian militias in Lebanon and provided arms for them.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Meanwhile, as Israel is invading Lebanon, several.

[Kim Qatas]

Lebanese Shia clerics are actually on their way to Iran by pure coincidence, to meet with Iran's newly established Office of Liberation Movements to ask for help.

[Orli Daher]

The Iranians actually are not enthusiastic at all with their project.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

This is Orli Dahed again, she says, a spokesman for the Iranian Parliament along with Ayatollah Khomeini's son.

[Orli Daher]

Look, the Israeli army is way too powerful.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

And Iran had its hands full with the Iraqi invasion, which it was starting to turn back. But the Lebanese clerics had connections within Iran's leadership, one of whom was interested.

[Orli Daher]

It is the Iranian ambassador in Damascus who will really lobby in favor of the creation of Hezbollah.

[Kim Qatas]

And Iran sends a plane load of Iranian Revolutionary Guards to come and assist Lebanon in its fight against Israel.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have a unit that functions kind of like the US Green Berets. They're sent as military advisors, but they come with weapons and special knowledge on how to conduct guerrilla warfare.

[Help Me Voice]

They take over an old military barracks and they start training Shia militants. And the idea was to create some superstructure and to provide some training, including, by the way, ideological training.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

With this support from Iran, the Shia clerics were able to start an organization.

[Help Me Voice]

Called the Resistance, the Muqawah, the Islamic.

[Orli Daher]

Resistance in Lebanon, the irl, or in.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Arabic, Al Muqawameh Philubnan, which soon realized it needed more than just military power.

[Orli Daher]

The IRL will feel the need to add to that military structure a whole network of civilian institutions.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

That network of civilian institutions was called Hezbollah, which translates to Party of God. The group was tasked by its leaders to do three things.

[Orli Daher]

First, communication, basically explaining to the Lebanese society who they are, what they're doing, the point of their fight.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Second, recruiting. Basically you're raising an army to promote that resistance discourse. And Hezbollah's third objective, to help the.

[Orli Daher]

Lebanese cope with collateral damage, the iral. Fighting the Israelis will have a cost and will have a cost on civilians. If you're wounded in an Israeli attack, then basically they will take care of you for free.

[Help Me Voice]

They had Iranian funds to be able to pay salaries and to empower people to be able to build grassroots institutions, not just political, but much more importantly, social welfare, religious, educational, medical.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

With this three prong approach, Hezbollah started to be seen by some people in Lebanon as a force for good.

[Help Me Voice]

Hezbollah's position as a resistance force definitely bought it standing and respect.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

And in the Shia community, Hezbollah increasingly became its defender.

[Help Me Voice]

Finally, someone was standing up for them, someone from within the Shia community. So there was an element here of going from zero to hero, of empowerment, of being part of something bigger than themselves. It helped drive recruitment. People wanted, people within the Shia community wanted, aspired to be able to join Hezbollah.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

But the other major recruitment tool for Hezbollah was something that was out of their hands. It was the brutal nature of Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon. Those who were suspected of working with the resistance to the Israeli occupation were sent to a huge prison called the.

[Orli Daher]

Kyam prison, Khiyam prison, that actually worked more like a concentration camp.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The prison was run by the South Lebanon Army, a Christian dominated militia that received support and training from Israel. Amnesty International called the prison of Shame.

[Orli Daher]

The Lebanese talked about it as the center of hell.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

There were accusations of torture at the prison. Former inmates claimed prisoners were beaten, interrogated.

[Orli Daher]

Naked, bit by dogs, tied for hours to pillars. They were deprived from food, from sleep, waterboarding, drowned. And those prisoners, well, they were detained with no trial, no attorney to defend them.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Amnesty International reported 11 detainees died there in the 15 years the prison operated.

[Orli Daher]

A lot of Shia eventually found themselves in where it's either I fight myself against that occupation or I'm going to die there. Anonymous.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Israel's siege of Beirut and occupation of southern Lebanon mostly worked. The majority of PLO fighters were pushed out of the country. But they now face a new challenge from Hezbollah.

[Kim Qatas]

So the first big suicide operation against Israel is in November, I believe, 1982 against Israeli headquarters set up in the southern city of Tyre.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The following year, 1983 is when the US Marine barracks in Beirut were attacked, which the US government linked to Hezbollah, who deny involvement even though the Marines were there officially as part of a peacekeeping effort in the ongoing Lebanese civil war. Hezbollah viewed the US as a supporter of Israel's invasion.

[Kim Qatas]

It's clear then that the war in Lebanon, which could have ended with the departure of the PLO from Lebanon, is going into a new cycle that is going to be propelled forward by the actions of groups that are anti American and anti Israel. And some of those groups are very much aligned and funded and helped by Iran.

[Narrator]

For the sake of the truth, we declare that the sons of Hezbollah's nation have come to know well their basic enemies in the area, Israel, America, France and the Falange.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

A few Years later, in 1985, Hezbollah released an open letter laying out its purpose and goals. You're hearing excerpts from it read by Throughline producer Peter Balin Rosen.

[Narrator]

Our sons are now in an ever escalating confrontation against these enemies until the following objectives are Israel's final departure from Lebanon as a prelude to its final obliteration from existence, and the liberation of venerable Jerusalem from the talons of occupation.

[Help Me Voice]

Their goal is also very, very bluntly, to take orders from the Supreme Leader of Iran. So are you Lebanese or are you something foreign?

[Narrator]

Imam Khomeini, the leader, has repeatedly stressed that America is the reason for all of our catastrophes and the source of all malice. By fighting it, we are only exercising our legitimate right to defend Islam and the dignity of our nation.

[Help Me Voice]

And they really presented themselves as the vanguard of furthering the Islamic revolution against the West.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

This dual identity, one as a Lebanese resistance force very much concerned with domestic affairs and the other as a transnational group allied with Iran, has continued to haunt Hezbollah to this day.

[Help Me Voice]

Who are they? What are they? Are you really Lebanese? Are you really more interested in a foreign power? And they've never been able to fully answer that, because, of course, they're both.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

In 1990, after 15 years, the Lebanese civil war came to an official end.

[Help Me Voice]

The Taif Agreement, like a national reconciliation accord that formally ended the civil war, required that all sectarian communities, groups disarm. Hezbollah asserts that it should be the one that doesn't because it is the resistance organization and it has to deal with Israel. And frankly, it at this point is so powerful that no one can say no.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The civil war was over, but Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon continued. Hezbollah emerged as the single greatest power to fight it. In 1992, when suspected supporters of Hamas were deported from Palestinian territories to southern Lebanon, Hezbollah welcomed them and gave them tactical training. That same year, when Hezbollah's leader died, a new leader emerged to take over the group and further change its direction. His name was Hasan Nasrallah.

[Orli Daher]

Hasan Nasrallah decided to really focus all the effort and all the money and all the time and all the energy of the Iral on fighting the Israelis.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Hasan Nasrallah is a Shia cleric. He was born in a poor suburb of Beirut and completed his religious studies in Iraq and Iran. He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s as a young man. He had very close ties with Iranian leaders, and his ascension to power would be a turning point for Hezbollah.

[Orli Daher]

So one year after Hassan Nasrallah was appointed Secretary General, I remember everybody really was surprised when that summer, the Israelis carried out a massive offensive. For more than a week, they hit Hezbollah very hard. This is the first time where the Israelis didn't manage to achieve their goals. This is the first time where Hezba Allah managed to influence inflict serious damages on the north of Israel. And eventually this is where we started to hear the first discourses within the Lebanese society saying, you know what, these guys actually, they're sincere about their fights and if they continue this way, they might go somewhere.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Coming up, Hezbollah wins the first major battle against Israel by an Arab military in a generation and changes the balance of power in the region. Hi, this is Hiba from Dallas, Texas.

[Help Me Voice]

And you're listening to Throughline from npr.

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[Narrator]

Law.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Part 3 these are not our heroes. The end of Israel's 22 year occupation of South Lebanon last week erased a line that divided not just Lebanon's land, but its people.

[Progressive Insurance]

The Israelis had been an occupying force there since 1978 on the grounds that they could better defend their northern border from positions in Lebanon.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

In 2000, the Israeli military withdrew its forces from Lebanon.

[Progressive Insurance]

Roads were not only jammed, they were chaotic.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Hezbollah claimed it as a victory for Lebanon.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Triumphant Hezbollah guerrilla fighters found themselves directing traffic.

[Orli Daher]

That was really the moment that created the core of the whole Hezbollah legend, the whole Hezbollah myth.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

And for Israel, it appeared to be a loss.

[Orli Daher]

They had to withdraw, defeated and unconditional.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Aureli Daher, author of the book Hezbollah Mobilization and Power.

[Orli Daher]

That was the first nobody ever saw that in the history of the Middle East. For the Lebanese, it was like the Lebanese David defeating the big Israeli Goliath.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

For years, Hezbollah had portrayed itself as Lebanon's protector, a protector that was fighting for both self determination and for God. And Israel's withdrawal only supported that narrative.

[Help Me Voice]

Hezbollah has gone to great lengths over the years to build its term, not mine, to build a culture of resistance.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is Matthew Levitt. He wrote a book called Hezbollah the Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God.

[Help Me Voice]

It wants to inculcate the idea that it is serving lofty goals that are in God's interests and in the interest of all Lebanese, whether you are Shia or not. That they are the protectors of Lebanon, not people who are doing things that bring war to Lebanon.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

And they use this narrative to propel themselves deeper into Lebanese politics.

[Narrator]

And that means they begin to speak in a different way, they begin to legitimize themselves in a different way and sort of focus more on making sure that Lebanese Shias are represented in the political system.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

That's Suna Hagballah, professor of Global Middle East Studies at Ros Gilda University in Denmark. In the 2000s, Hezbollah's leader, Hasan Nasrallah, grew closer to Iran's leadership. Eventually, the son of his second in command would marry the daughter of Iran's most famous military leader, Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the US in 2020. This is how intertwined Hezbollah became with Iran. Iran continued funding Hezbollah and Nasrallah expanded social infrastructure nationwide, primarily in Shia areas.

[Help Me Voice]

They run their own equivalent of the Boy Scouts, the Mahdi Scouts. There's television, radio, print media. They got the whole thing going to be able to promote that narrative.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

And all of this didn't just have a material impact on Lebanon, it had a cultural impact as well. According to Lebanese journalist Kim Ratas, it pushed the country's Shia Muslims into a more conservative direction.

[Kim Qatas]

It starts with women being told to put on the veil, not just in the Baka Valley, but also in the southern suburbs, but also in very cosmopolitan West Beirut.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Hezbollah has always been a religiously conservative organization. And over the years it has been increasingly influenced by its ally, Iran, an Islamic state. Hezbollah members allegedly went through villages in some neighborhoods in Beirut enforcing Islamic laws.

[Kim Qatas]

They take over violently sometimes, you know, cafes and bars in Beirut and break all the bottles of alcohol. And it's so foreign to most Lebanese that they think it's a passing fad.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

That will go away, but it doesn't go away. Hezbollah's influence only expands in time.

[Help Me Voice]

Hezbollah decided to leverage its position of influence because of its social welfare, activities and power, because of its weapons, into politics, and decided to contest elections.

[Orli Daher]

When Hezbollah decided to enter the political game, it wasn't to run the country. It was to basically use state institutions as a scene, as a stage to promote the interest of the irl, the.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Islamic Resistance in Lebanon.

[Help Me Voice]

And it ended up doing very well. And you've had several Hezbollah led governments, not always because Hezbollah itself got so many seats, but because its coalition did. And Hezbollah for many years had what we describe as a blocking third. It had enough seats in the parliament to be able to block any law from passing.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

In this way, Hezbollah functions kind of like a state within a state. It has some seats in the Lebanese Parliament and participates in national politics, but it kind of doesn't need to because it has its own military and civilian infrastructure. This allows them to call the shots from the shadows.

[Help Me Voice]

It is both a part of and apart from the Lebanese government. It's able to benefit from the legitimacy that being in government gives it, but it's not responsible for anything.

[Orli Daher]

The deal between Hezbollah and the other political forces is very easy to understand. Basically, Hezbollah says, you guys do whatever you want running this country as long as you don't go near the interests of the Iran.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

But what if someone does mess with the interest of Hezbollah's military or civilian arm? According to Matthew Levitt, they are not shy about doling out consequences.

[Help Me Voice]

When Hezbollah is called to task for carrying out illicit financial schemes through the Lebanese banking system, that undermines the Lebanese financial system. When politicians don't get on board with what Hezbollah and its allies want, there are consequences.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Hezbollah has attacked its opponents and rivals throughout its history.

[Kim Qatas]

Hezbollah actually eliminates literally. I mean, they kill them, they hunt them down to take over completely that cause of the quote, unquote, resistance against Israel.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This would continue into the early 2000s, as Hezbollah emerged as the most powerful military and social force in the country.

[Narrator]

It was an assassination that would shape Lebanese politics for years to come.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

On February 14, 2005, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, who was at odds with Hezbollah and its allies in Syria, was assassinated when a massive bomb went off as his motorcade drove through Beirut. It sent shockwaves through the region.

[Narrator]

It was a horrendous crime that looked.

[Kim Qatas]

Like it belonged to another era.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

A United nations investigation followed that implicated Hezbollah members in plotting and carrying out the assassination.

[Help Me Voice]

They carried out intimidation operations for investigators who came some of the key Lebanese investigators who were working with this international investigation. Lebanese officials were themselves assassinated. So they will not accept a situation where they are made out to be something bad for Lebanon or the bad guys.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

In 2012, Hezbollah would do something else in support of its allies that would poke major holes in the myth that they were the Arab world's ultimate freedom fighters.

[Narrator]

Today in Egypt, battles raged.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

We are not afraid.

[Progressive Insurance]

We are not afraid. That's Khalid Hamila, who waved his fist at an army helicopter overhead.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

No fear.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

No more fear.

[Orli Daher]

It's the country of freedom.

[Help Me Voice]

There's uprisings throughout the Arab world.

[Orli Daher]

It's a mixture between watching people get killed and tweeting. Tweeting now seems insignificant when people are dying in front of you.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The Arab Spring began in Tunisia in 2011 when protesters took to the streets to demand government reform and economic opportunity. Soon, pro democracy protests spread across the Middle East. In Syria, which borders Lebanon to the north and east, the rebellion started with teenagers who were accused of scrawling anti government graffiti against President Bashar Al Assad's regime.

[Help Me Voice]

The Assad regime cracks down by beating a bunch of youth in the south in Durra, and this leads to first protests and the protests are crushed, and then full scale rebellion.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The rebellion soon threatened the Assad regime.

[Help Me Voice]

And Syria needed help. So Iran steps in.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

The Assad regime in Syria is close allies with Iran, so Iran sent thousands of Revolutionary Guard soldiers to Syria to help put the rebellion down.

[Help Me Voice]

And Iran asks Hezbollah to step in.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Hezbollah agreed.

[Narrator]

Analysts say this is deeply embarrassing for Hezbollah, which always portrays itself as on the people's side. But Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah remains loyal to Syria. I personally believe that President Bashar al Assad is a believer in reform and is serious, but with patience.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

This is a responsible regime.

[Orli Daher]

In Bahrain, Hezbollah sent massive troops to support the regime of Bashar al Assad and fight.

[Help Me Voice]

And they go all in, despite the fact that they understand that now they're no longer fighting Israel, they're no longer resisting against Israeli occupation. They are going into Syria to kill fellow Muslims. And the regime in Syria is primarily killing Sunnis, women and children, using gas, using barrel bombs, using starvation as a tactic of war, the nastiest of stuff. And Hezbollah's on that side.

[Orli Daher]

People being unable to get food, medication, babies, not having, you know, milk or diapers, etc. And then Hezbollah, you know, preventing anybody from getting any help.

[Help Me Voice]

And that cost Hezbollah significantly in the Muslim and Arab worlds, the overwhelming majority of which are Sunni. And it put them in the position of siding with the bully.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Even among devoted Hezbollah supporters, this caused a major rift.

[Orli Daher]

A lot of people who were unconditionally pro Hezbollahs were like, you know, this is not our heroes. This is not the Hezbollah we know. The Hezbollah we know would never go after civilians. And I remember I talked about that with some Hezbollah members when I was doing my research in Beirut a few years ago, and they said it, that created a kind of a moral crisis or a kind of a conscious crisis for some of them within the organization, even within the organizations. And people were really wondering, like, is it still us? Because that's not our purpose, that's not our identity, that's not our vision.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Today, Lebanon is in a state of economic and social freefall. The country's banking system is almost in collapse. Unemployment is rampant, and corruption is everywhere. The country is barely being held together. And it's in this context that Hezbollah must navigate new tensions with Israel. Since the October 7 Hamas led attack.

[Narrator]

Hezbollah was not ready to jump into the war on 7 October, but have managed it in their own way, in a way that also has one eye on the very delicate and difficult situation domestically in Lebanon, with a broken economy where the Lebanese population does not need another big war.

[Orli Daher]

Hassan Nasrallah definitely does not want to be blamed for another major military tragedy with the Israeli neighbor.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Since October 7, Hezbollah has exchanged rocket fire with Israel and has said they will continue until Israel announces a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel's recent attacks against Hezbollah have been the largest since 2006.

[Help Me Voice]

Hezbollah is not accountable, but they are making decisions of life and death, war and peace for all Lebanese.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Hezbollah is also concerned with the position of its main benefactor and ally, Iran. It's a relationship that is often understood as Iran controlling Hezbollah, but Sunnah says that's not quite accurate.

[Narrator]

This is not a question of who's taking dictates from the other. It's more a question of understanding how much they're on the same page.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Iran and Hezbollah work as partners.

[Narrator]

It's not only transactional, they have the same strategic view. They want to destroy the state of Israel and they want justice for Palestinians and they want to deter American influence in the region. And all of that grew out of the Lebanese civil war. It grew out of this strong resistance ideology that existed in the Shiite community, but it also grew out of a strong sense of grievance, of social grievance, of grievance against colonialism and the long effects of colonialism in the region. And those are the core ideological elements still of Hezbollah that drive them today.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

That's it for this week's show. I'm Rund Abdelfattah.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

I'm Ramtin Arablouei and you've been listening to Throughline from npr.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

This episode was produced by me and.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Me and Lawrence Wu, Julie Kane, Anya.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Steinberg, Casey Minor, Christina Kim, Devin Kadayama.

[Narrator]

Peter Balanon, Rosen, Irene Noguchi.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Fact checking for this episode was done by Kevin Voelkel. The episode was mixed by Josh Newell.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

Music for this episode was composed by Ramtin and his band Drop Electric, which.

[Narrator]

Includes Naveed Marvi, Sho Fujiwara, Anya Mizani.

[Ramtin Arablouei]

Thanks to Johannes Durgi, James Hyder, Tony Cavin, Larry Kaplow, Kara West, Edith Chapin and Colin Campbell.

[Sergeant Stephen Russell]

And as always, if you have ideas or suggestions, you can reach [e-mail] thanks for listening.

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