WHAT IS HEZBOLLAH??

What is Hezbollah?

Hezbollah - or Party of God - is a powerful political and military organisation of Shia Muslims in Lebanon.

It emerged with financial backing from Iran in the early 1980s and began a struggle to drive Israeli troops from Lebanon.

Hezbollah presents itself as a force of resistance for Lebanon and the regionIn May 2000 this aim was achieved, thanks largely to the success of the party's military arm, the Islamic Resistance.

In return, the movement, which represents Lebanon's Shia Muslims - the country's single largest community - won the respect of most Lebanese.

It now has an important presence in the Lebanese parliament and has built broad support by providing social services and health care. It also has an influential TV station, al-Manar.

But, it still has a militia that refuses to demilitarise, despite UN resolution 1559, passed in 2004, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and the disarming of militias.

After Israel withdrew from Lebanon, Hezbollah was expected to integrate its forces into the Lebanese army and focus on its political and social operations. But, while capitalised on its political gains, it continued to describe itself as a force of resistance not only for Lebanon, but for the region.

Syria

The Islamic Resistance is still active on the Israel/Lebanon border. Tension is focused on an area known as the Shebaa Farms. Hezbollah says the Shebaa Farms area is occupied Lebanese territory, but Israel, backed by the UN, says the farms are on the Syrian side of the border and so are part of the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

The movement has long operated with neighbouring Syria's blessing, protecting Damascus' interests in Lebanon and serving as a card for Damascus to play in its own confrontation with Israel over the occupation of the Golan Heights.

But pressure on Syria to withdraw 14,000 troops deployed in Lebanon, could now present Hezbollah with a serious challenge: how long it can remain a guerrilla movement without endangering its growing role as a mainstream, albeit religious-based, political party.

In February, 2005, Lebanon was plunged into a political crisis after the assassination of a former prime minister Rafik Hariri, widely believed to be the work of Syrian intelligence. Opposition parties sought a dialogue with Hezbollah in an attempt to get it to join their ranks.

Analysts say Hezbollah has adopted a cautious policy since the crisis. It has continued to profess its support for Syrian involvement in Lebanon, while not criticising the Lebanese opposition. It has also stressed Lebanese unity by arguing against "Western interference" in the country.

In March, after weeks of unprecedented anti-Syrian demonstrations in Beirut, Hezbollah proved it, too, had people power on its side. Hundreds of thousands of its followers poured on to the streets of the capital in support of Lebanon's historic and strategic relationship with Syria.

Starting out

Hezbollah was conceived in 1982 by a group of Muslim clerics after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It was close to a contingent of some 2000 Iranian Revolutionary guards, based in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, which had been sent to the country to aid the resistance against Israel.
Hezbollah was formed primarily to offer resistance to the Israeli occupation.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has argued against Western interferenceIt also dreamed of transforming Lebanon's multi-confessional state into an Iranian-style Islamic state, although this idea was later abandoned.

The party's rhetoric calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. It regards the whole of Palestine as occupied Muslim land and it argues that Israel has no right to exist.

The party was long supported by Iran, which provided it with arms and money.

Passionate and demanding

Hezbollah also adopted the tactic of taking Western hostages, through a number of freelance hostage taking cells.

In 1983, militants who went on to join Hezbollah ranks carried out a suicide bombing attack that killed 241 US marines in Beirut.

Hezbollah has always sought to further an Islamic way of life. In the early days, its leaders imposed strict codes of Islamic behaviour on towns and villages in the south of the country - a move that was not universally popular with the region's citizens.

But the party emphasises that its Islamic vision should not be interpreted as an intention to impose an Islamic society on the Lebanese.