by Roy Keyes
Download the Full Article: Hezbollah: The Party of God
Viewed as both hero and villain, Hezbollah is possibly the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world today. Hezbollah's worldview is fueled by the perception that the Muslim world is experiencing a period of deep crisis and as a result, members of the organization are encouraged to strike at the forces of evil in the world in order to accelerate the final battle between Muslims and the West (Hezbollah Dossier, 2009).
Download the Full Article: Hezbollah: The Party of God
Roy Keyes graduated from American Military University in 2010 with a BA in Intelligence Studies Specializing in Terrorism Studies. He is an amateur military historian who concentrates on World War II and the current Global War on Terror. He runs a small blog called Cowboy Jihad which follows events in Southwest Asia and the Middle East.
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yet another anonymous - keep in mind that Hezbollah (Hez) is a political organization seeking political legitimacy, and it is one thing for them to be seen as a victim of Israeli aggression when standing up to Israel in southern Lebanon, and advocating Lebanese sovereignty, and quite another to be viewed killing innocent civilians on the other side of the word.
Although I acknowledge that Hez has the infrastructure for transnational terrorism, that Tehran likes to keep in our minds with their periodic rhetoric....al-Qaeda does not, and you will note that Hez hasn't chosen to demonstrate those capabilities outside of Lebanon for many years now...something al-Qaeda would be exploiting, because Hez is a rational player, and al-Qaeda, bent on retribution is not.
The fact is, Hez has matured and is no longer the shadowy entity it was in the 1980s, but rather a large organization with an address.
As Israel does, and the U.S. certainly is aware, Hezs key personnel can be identified and snatched or attacked. They understand that a serious terrorist attack on U.S. soil would result in the same type of retaliatory attacks on them as we did against al-Qaeda, with excellent Israel intelligence guiding it - and remember, Lebanon is far easier to strike than Afghanistan.
Though the threat of Hez can be considered a serious one, just as the defense industry beats the drum that China is also, it isnt something new, and has to be put into perspective, and for the above stated reasoning, in using your words: "don't allow yourself to be out-maneuvered in the information propaganda sphere."
Hezbollah not a threat? Give me a break. Any group that espouses the rhetoric that this extremist group does is a threat. Picking a global fight you say, well it does not take a so called global fight for an organization to threaten U.S. strategic interests. Hezbollah's so-called "public" stances over the later years are yet another example of how free-thinking and democratic peoples and their nations are being out-maneuvered in the information propaganda sphere.
Anonymous above has it right--the Hizbullah threat to the US is an order of of magnitude less than that posed by AQ. Hizbullah has no particular interest in picking a global fight with Washington when its interests are largely Lebanon-centric. Certainly, Hizbullah attacked US targets in the past, but those attacks took place when Hizbullah was a rather different organization, and when the US was seen as complicit in Israeli occupation of Lebanon and de facto supporting one side in the still ongoing Lebanese civil war.
Overall, this is a rather weak SWJ contribution, that really doesn't go much beyond a wikipedia level of analysis. There is an awful lot of quality material available on the organization which doesn't seem to have been used. There is no nuance at all in discussion of the organization's politics and operations.
Steve,
I'm not so sure I would argue that Hezbollah is the "most" dangerous terrorist group in the world either. In many ways they're rational actors, and I seriously doubt that would ever attempt something along the lines of a 9/11 scale attack because there are very few reasons for doing so. Al Qaeda clearly remains the most dangerous due to their proven intent to conduct an attack that exceeds the slaughter of the 9/11 attack. It is clear that they're actively pursuing this type of attack, and they won't be detered by reason or the liklihood of retaliation. However, what does make Hezbollah exceptionally capable is the fact that they occassionally receive support from Iran to support their attacks. So Iran can fund and smuggle attack materials through their diplomatic missions and also provide expertise not available to other groups.
Hezbollah has more skill than AQ, but they're also more rational and do fear retaliation which will limit their options for employing terrorism as a tool.
Steve22: Please follow up with this paper from Small Wars Journal.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/journal/docs-temp/533-miryekta.pdf.
We are on the frontlines with al-Qaeda everyday but that does not mean Hezbollah is not planning and plotting. Please keep in mind before 9/11 Hezbollah had killed more U.S. citizens than any other terrorist groups.
Thanks,
Roy Keyes
I must apologize for wearing my heart on my sleeve displayed in my last sentence of my previous response to Ron Keyes' article, and I will keep personal comments not germane to the issue to myself in the future.
In readdressing your article, I thought you may like to consider some random comments that come to mind concerning several of your assertions
Certainly the Arab world at large saw Hezbollah as standing their ground against Israel, but I would point-out Hezbollah primarily won a propaganda war by over-stating its accomplishments through its media network, while Israel was busy infighting as to who did what wrong and who was to blame, instead of countering with their own psyop program.
Additionally, Hezbollah, once the dust settled after the July 2006 war with Israel, was widely criticized by the populace in southern Lebanon for the wide destruction their actions had caused, which in turn prompted Tehran to rebuke Hezbollah for picking a fight with Israel - something Hezbollah, outside of rhetoric, seems to be going to some length to avoid at the moment.
I think you might also find Damascus is not as interested in using Hezbollah as a front line against Israel as much as Asad views them as a proxy to influence political events in Lebanon. I say that because, though Iran has influence over both Hezbollah and Syria, Syrians have always considered Lebanon, a country created after WWI, as belonging to them, and some Syrians often refer to Lebanon as the providence when discussing events there.
However, they are as you say, an emerging non-state actor that may indeed gain legitimacy through the electoral vote, but we shall see, as at the moment Saudi King Abdullah has been using his considerable influence to persuade Syria to distance itself from Hezbollah, and the Beirut government to lean back toward Damascus, thus reducing Irans influence.
Mr. Keyes, I am going to nuance your assertion that Hezbollah was founded on the principle of Jihad. I think it was originally on the ideal of fighting for Lebanese nationalism.
Which brings me to my point that Hezbollah has over time contradicted that ideal with its increased Iranian jihadist influence that can be heard preached daily over Al-Manar TV out of Lebanon.
I have always thought this might be a weak center of gravity that might be exploited in a war of propaganda that seems to go unnoticed.
Hezbollah is the enemy of my blood and I have turned my heart into a thing of hate toward them.