Hezbullah: Impact of Ideology on Group Structure, Strategy, Targets and Tactics Essay

Hezbullah or Hezbollah, which liter each(prenominal)y means ships comp any(prenominal) of God, is an shaping based on Lebanon. It is a sacred-political-paramilitary organization of some(prenominal)(prenominal) thousand Shiite Muslim militants that plays a signifi contributet role in the Lebanese politics. Hezbullah, while entertaining to be a major contributor to social programs and work in Lebanon, has been considered an Muslim struggle movement. The free radical also is a number 1 off provider of agricultural services, medical aid, and school operations in Lebanon. The stem is also a significant and influential power when it comes to the world of Lebanese politics.With its outright mission, to destroy Israel, it has been condemned by many regimes but some others have praised the party. west fightd countries, closely notably the joined States, consider Hezbullah as a terrorist organization. opposite countries that recognize in some part or in exclusively the concl ave as a terrorist organization include the Great Britain, Australia, Canada and several others. Origins It was in the year 1982 that Hezbullah surfaced in Lebanon as it was invaded by Israel and was dubbed as subprogram Peace for Galilee. Hezbullah was pit in resistance against the Israeli occupation of Lebanon amid the Lebanese civil war.Inspired by the great Iranian political and religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, the leading went for the training and organization of some Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Although the first manifesto of the assort did not directly mention the destruction of Israel, the leaders of Hezbullah made several claims on destroying the Zionist entity forcing themselves to the lands rightful owners own. They referred to the Israeli assault of Lebanon that during the course, claimed not s carcely livestock, lands, homes, but much especially lives.The group started solely as a small militia but slowly gained following that agree to the views and ideolo gies of the left-leaning group. They started to gain social power, as earnting seats in the Lebanese government, being able to create social development programs, as well as getting control and owning their own radio lay and a satellite television station. As Shiite Muslims account for majority of its members, their members at present vary from all domain of Lebanese population, especially after the 2006 Lebanon war or the July war that featured the warf be between Israel and Hezbullah themselves.Given their spacious tally sheets of members, they are able to mobilize protests to the hundreds of thousands of their members, creating a major strike for the Lebanese government itself. Objectives The 1985 manifesto of the Hezbullah enumerated their three main goals as follows (1) to baffle an end to any colonialist entity that existed in Lebanon, (2) to bring the Phalangists, a right-wing party in Lebanon, to justice for the crimes they had perpetrated, and finally (3) to the right ful establishment of an Islamic politics in Lebanon. The manifesto also featured some of the ideologies of the group.The group condemns the Zionist occupation of Palestine outright and added by several claims that in that respect is no legitimacy for the existence of Israel. The political theory of Hezbullah is derived from the Islamic Shiite Ideology popularized by Ayatollah Khomeini, cognise for leading the Islamic revolution in Iran in the 1970s. The Founding program line of Hezbullah contains a section that reads We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world. It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve.Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle get out end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no forswear fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated. We vigorously condemn all plans for dialog with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies, for the reason that such negotiation is nothing but the recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine.It was authorise The Necessity for the Destruction of Israel which pretty much sums it all up. Structure From 1992 up to the present, the organization has been headed its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah. Originally a military commander, but with the background of analyze Shiite theology in Iran and Iraq, Nasrallah made it higher in the ranks with ease. Some reports pop the dubiety that he took advant epoch of the inside rivalry in the group to let the Secretary-General position from Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini.Another leader, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, has been the groups spectral leader since its founding. However, Fadlallah, died of a liver hemorrhage recent ly, 4th July 2010, at the age of 75. There is still a huge blank space to be filled in the groups spiritual leaders death. One other leader can be considered as the brains of the Hezbullah operations worldwide. It was Imad Fayez Mugniyah who was considered as the key planner, the mastermind, the engineer that finds judgment of conviction to plan details and exertion of its terrorist operations.Mugniyah got his talent from experience, training with al al-Asifa in the 1970s in the midst of the Lebanese civil war. It was in the 1980s that the two, al Fatah and Mugniyah, were expelled from Lebanon by Israeli forces. merely with his talent and skill, he quickly went up ranks after joining the Hezbullah. However, it was on 13 February, 2008, that Mugniyah was killed in a car bombing incident in Damascus supposedly pinned to Israel but with no solid grounds. The group is structured into three sub-groups namely the Bayt al-Mal, Jihad al Binna and the IRSO (Islamic Resistance Support Orga nization).Hezbullah gets its finances from support from various governments, Iran, Tehran and Syria, as well as donations from the Lebanese people and both local and world(prenominal) Shiites. With the current finances, the influence and the power both as a group and in the government, its forces gained momentum as gaining several thousands in members. The Lebanese government itself secured Hezbullahs existence with policies that allow the group to continue on in their fight for liberty and recover occupied lands.According to data from the United States, the two states, Iran and Syria, contribute to not only the finance, but also to the training, weapons, explosive, diplomatical and political aid of the group. Hezbullah is believed to have a budget ranging from $200 meg to $500 million, about $100 million coming from Iran. Operations Hezbullahs main base for operation is in the Lebanons Shiite-populated areas.This includes Beirut, Bekaa Valley and southerly parts of Lebanon. But w ith recent intelligence reports from the U. S.suggest that the group has been jump its expansion of operations, from Africa to Europe, South America and even in North America. The group has at least five thousand core members, consisting of militants and activists. But it varies notably from time to time due to conflicts that the group engages in, most probably conflicts with Israel. US intelligence also reports the presence of at least 60,000 firearms and other weapons in the hands of Hezbullah. It includes both short and longsighted range rockets, and even anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-ship arsenals.With hourly conflicts with Israel, people are concerned that a third Lebanon war may erupt if tensions remain high. Although Israel has officially withdrawn from Lebanon in 2000, and despite the UN affidavit of the withdrawal of all forces, Hezbullah still periodically create problems in the challenge Shebaa Frams border zone. Consequently, a full scale war erupted during the summer of 2006 and if it werent for a UN-led-ceasefire, it probably wouldnt have stopped any time soon. Even so, it stopped only after taking more than a thousand lives and hundreds of thousands homeless or forced to flee especially the five-week long conflict.Some major attacks attributed to Hezbullah includes the kidnapping of several Americans in Lebanon during the 1980s self-annihilation attacks in a U. S. Marines barracks in Beirut, Lebanon which kills over two hundred American soldiers the 1983 U. S. Embassy bombing in Beirut that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans the French multinational force headquarters bombing in 1983 that killed 58 French soldiers the hijack of TWA flight 847 that featured in an infamous footage of a pilot with a gun to his head an attack that killed hundreds in the Israeli embassy and a Judaic community center both in Argentina in 1992 and 1994 respectively.The most recent major attack claimed by the Hezbullah was on 2006 when they launched a astonishment raid on a border post in Federal Israel. They took two Israeli soldiers in captive that caused an intense military candidacy to be forced against Lebanon. But there was more to the campaign of the Hezbullah. By 2003, they have worked diligently with other Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihan, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and especially Tanzim. It has also been reported that Hezbullah has been a major firearms supplier with their allies as in the Hamas.Analysis It has been with combine decisions whether Hezbullah is to be considered as a terrorist organization or not. It is a cognise incident that some countries do not consider the group as a terrorist organization in whole. The United States however, has issued statements against the group, considering them to be a highly-organized terrorist organization. To be able to analyze the group itself, there is a need to serve well this question Should the Hezbullah be considered as a terrorist organization? For the sake of sincere perspective, we must consider all perspectives.In the Hezbullah perspective arguments include that fact that (1) the main ideology of the group is based on Islamic ideologies, only more radical ones, (2) every body politic has the right to protect and maintain its liberty in ways it can, and finally (3) the group is actually a part of the Lebanese government. But then again, nothing gives the right for any person, group and even a country to declare that a country has no reason to exist and that the country and its people should be obliterated.By this argument plus the known attacks that they have committed and claimed for, it can be concluded that the group can be considered as a terrorist organization. aft(prenominal) setting the fact that Hezbullah is a terrorist organization, an analysis can be set apart in this perspective. From its origin standpoint, the group can be considered outright to be a radical and extremist in thoughts and in action. It is based from their ideologic background that was actually derived from a radical form of Islamic Shiite Ideology that Khomeini had started. Its aim, more than anything else, is to destroy the country of Israel and its occupants, and kill the Jews.The structure of the group can be considered to be a help in their aims and objectives. Considering the separate leading roles in the group, namely the political, religious and military roles, there are wide opportunities to focus to their separate roles. There is a much efficient set of directives that would be of help to the members of the group. But there also is a backfire, if there are any occasions that the three leaders would disagree, the whole group could turn into a separate sub groups, reducing considerably the business leader to achieve the objectives of the group.Considering the strategies of the organization, it could be noted that this is interwoven with the organizations structure . The military strategies of the group should coexist with both the religious and political perspective of the group, and vice versa. With the strategy of the organization to attaining its aims, they will be bounded by international policies only if they need to. Their tactics to complete their objectives can be considered to have lessened in the amount of violence that they have made in the older movements.Whether it could be accountable for the tighter defense being pushed by their opposition, i. e. U. S. , Israel, or to internal eating away with the groups desire to succeed, will be a question to be answered in the future. Their targets remained the same, the Zionist entity that they refer to Israel, added to the vanguard of Israel, the United States. But the question mark lies in the present execution of their objectives, whether they will expunge it hard, as in violence that includes the public, or will they use a more reasonable action.The group structure and strategies ver y much act as their deed to accomplish its task. They may be planning to be more of a supporting group to other terrorist organization with the way they are moving as of the moment. They have no other engagement as of the moment. A possible scenario could be that the group would slowly blend to other terrorist organizations and would create a larger one, with a bigger objective than the original. They may consider to continue on supplying and supporting groups such as Hamas, to help them achieve their ultimate goal.