Every day, there is a growing risk of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict expanding geographically, with more and more actors joining the fighting. The actor most likely to get involved is the Lebanese Hezbollah party and paramilitary organisation - designated as a terrorist organisation by 26 countries, including the United States and the European Union - which on Wednesday announced a "day of unprecedented anger" against Israel and whose fighters have repeatedly attacked the Israeli-Lebanese border since October 7.
Party of Allah
What is Hezbollah? The organization was founded in the 1980s amid the Lebanese civil war, and its name means in Arabic: party of Allah. The Iranian-backed Shiite paramilitary organization, largely founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel stationed in Lebanon, waged wars against Israel in 1982 and 2006, and Hezbollah militants regularly clash with Israeli forces.
Today, it controls much of the Shiite-majority areas of Lebanon, with its units concentrated in the southern parts of the country near the Israeli border.
Members of Hezbollah's political arm were first elected to the Lebanese parliament in 1992, and held cabinet positions for many years, winning 13 seats in the last elections in 2022, but losing their majority along with their allies. Nevertheless, it remains the dominant party among the Shiite population. Hezbollah is often referred to as a state within a state, having established an extensive political and military network in a religiously divided Lebanon.
World's most heavily armed non-state actor
Since its inception, Hezbollah has been blamed for several terrorist attacks against Jews outside Israel, and there is evidence that it has been active in Asia, America and Africa. The organization has also been involved in the Syrian civil war as a supporter of Bashar al-Assad. According to some reports, Hezbollah fighters in Syria have been particularly brutal to civilians, especially women, and may have committed numerous cases of rape.
One of the most famous terrorist attacks Hezbollah has been accused of is the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing, which killed eighty-five people and injured more than three hundred, mostly members of the Jewish community.
It was the deadliest terrorist attack Argentina has seen to date.
An analysis by the Council of Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank, called the Hezbollah the world's most heavily armed non-state actor.
In 2021, Hezbollah had around one hundred thousand fighters, according to Hassan Nasrallah, the group's leader. However, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington estimated in 2020 that the militia had up to twenty thousand active fighters and some twenty thousand reserves. The think-tank says Hezbollah possesses a larger arsenal of artillery than most nations enjoy.
According to some sources, Hezbollah has increased its stockpile of missiles, mostly short range, to more than 150 thousand since 2006, and their arsenal also includes drones, a limited number of air defense systems and thousands of anti-tank missiles.
Why does it pose a threat?
Hezbollah has fought Israel in several wars, most recently in 2006, during which more than 1100 Lebanese and 165 Israelis were killed. The organization's involvement in the conflict with greater forces now could easily lead to further escalation and a geographical expansion of the war.
The chance is there, as Hamas and Hezbollah are not much different in that both aim to destroy Israel — just like Iran, sponsoring them.
A widening conflict would also have a negative impact on Europe: millions of people would flee the region, increasing migratory pressure and the terrorist threat, which has already risen to very high levels in recent days.
Cover photo: A man flies the flags of the State of Palestine and the Lebanese Shiite militant organization Hezbollah in front of Lebanese soldiers in Kfar Kila on the Israeli-Lebanese border on October 9, 2023 (Photo: MTI/AP/Mohammed Zaatari)
