WHezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Either the entire organization or only its military wing has been designated a terrorist organization by several countries, including by the European Union and, since 2017, also by most member states of the Arab League, with two exceptions – Lebanon, where Hezbollah is the most powerful political party, and Iraq. Russia does not view Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization" but as a "legitimate socio-political force".
WThe 2006–2008 Lebanese protests were a series of political protests and sit-ins in Lebanon that began on 1 December 2006, led by groups that opposed the US and Saudi-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and ended on 21 May 2008 with the signing of the Doha Agreement. The opposition was made up of Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM); a number of smaller parties were also involved, including the Marada party, the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. A majority of the members of the government were part of the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance, a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon. The two groups were also divided along religious lines, with most Sunnis and Druze supporting the government, and most Shi'a supporting the opposition. The Christian community was split between the two factions, with Michel Aoun, the leader of the FPM, claiming to have more than 70% support among the Christians, based on the results of the 2005 parliamentary election.
WThe Abu Hasan was a fishing vessel used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. The boat was intercepted and seized by the Israeli Navy on May 21, 2003.
WAlas Chiricanas Flight 901, registered HP-1202AC, was an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante aircraft flying en route from Colón city to Panama City which exploded shortly after departing Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport, on the night of July 19, 1994. All 21 on board, including 12 Jews, were killed in the bombing. Both Panamanian and American authorities consider the bombing an unsolved crime and an act of terrorism.
WEarly on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. The attack killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel, six civilians, and two attackers.
WThe Beirut Memorial is a memorial to the 241 American peacekeepers—220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers—killed in the October 23, 1983 Beirut barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. It is located outside the gate of Camp Gilbert H. Johnson, a satellite camp of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. It is the site of an annual commemoration of the victims of the suicide attack that took their lives.
WThe 2012 Burgas bus bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by a suicide bomber on a passenger bus transporting Israeli tourists at the Burgas Airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, on 18 July 2012. The bus was carrying 42 Israelis, mainly youths, from the airport to their hotels, after arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv. The explosion killed the Bulgarian bus driver and five Israelis and injured 32 Israelis, resulting in international condemnation of the bombing.
WGrand Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah was a prominent twelver Shia cleric from a Lebanese family. Born in Najaf, Iraq, Fadlallah studied Islam in Najaf before moving to Lebanon in 1952. In the following decades, he gave many lectures, engaged in intense scholarship, wrote dozens of books, founded several Islamic religious schools, and established the Mabarrat Association. Through the aforementioned association, he established a public library, a women's cultural center, and a medical clinic.
WThe flag of Hezbollah is the flag of the Shi'a political and military organization Hezbollah. The flag depicts a stylized representation of the Arabic words حزب الله in Kufic script. The first letter of "Allah" reaches up to grasp a stylized assault rifle. The flag incorporates several other symbols, namely a globe, a book, a sword, and a seven-leafed branch. The text above the logo reads فإن حزب الله هم الغالبون and means "Then surely the party of God are they that shall be triumphant", which is a reference to the name of the party. Underneath the logo are the words المقاومة الإسلامية في لبنان, meaning "The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon".
WHezbollah involvement in the Syrian Civil War has been substantial since the beginning of armed insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, and evolved into active support for Ba'athist government forces and troop deployment from 2012 onwards. By 2014, Hezbollah was deployed across Syria. Hezbollah deployed several thousand fighters in Syria and has lost up to 1,700 fighters in combat. Hezbollah has also been very active in preventing Syrian rebel penetration into Lebanon, being one of the most active forces in the Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon.
WThe Imam al-Mahdi Scouts is a youth movement that was established in Lebanon on 5 May 1985 by the political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah. It is named for Muhammad al-Mahdi.
WIraqi Airways Flight 163 was a Boeing 737-270C, registered YI-AGJ, that was hijacked in 1986. On 25 December 1986, en route from Baghdad's Saddam International Airport to Amman, Jordan, Flight 163 was hijacked by four men. Iraqi Airways security personnel tried to stop the hijackers, but a hand grenade was detonated in the passenger cabin, forcing the crew to initiate an emergency descent. Another hand grenade exploded in the cockpit, causing the aircraft to crash near Arar, Saudi Arabia where it broke in two and caught fire.
WThe Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is a non-profit organisation aligned with the Islamic Republic of Iran based in London. Its stated mission is to "work with different organisations from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, to campaign for justice for all peoples regardless of their racial, confessional or political background." The group is based in London and was established in 1997. The organisation, since 2007, has consultative status with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
WKata'ib Hezbollah —or the Hezbollah Brigades—is an Iraqi Shia paramilitary group which is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces backed by Iran. During the Iraq War (2003–11), the group fought against coalition forces. It has been active in the War in Iraq (2013–2017) and the Syrian civil war (2011–present). The group was commanded by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis until he was killed by a US airstrike in Baghdad on 3 January 2020. Thereafter, he was replaced by Abdul Aziz al-Muhammadawi, as the new leader of the Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU).
WBarbara Kay is a columnist for the Canadian national broadsheet the National Post, wherein she expressed, in a series of three articles, beginning with a column entitled "The Rise of Quebecistan", on August 9, 2006, her concern at the involvement of Quebec politicians in a demonstration in support of Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict that took place on August 6, 2006, in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Kay wrote: "'The Rise of Quebecistan,' has become a focus for great controversy in Quebec. In the past week, I have been interviewed by numerous radio stations, both French and English, and declared an enemy of the people, in so many words, in no less than three newspapers, including in a Post column... ."
WThe Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc is the political wing of Hezbollah in the Lebanese parliament. Along with Amal, the party dominates the March 8 Alliance and since 2012 has held two seats in the Lebanese cabinet. The party is currently led by Hezbollah member and prominent Shi'a politician Mohammad Raad.
WMar Mikhael Understanding is a memorandum of understanding signed on 6 February 2006 by Michel Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, and Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, in Mar Mikhael Church located in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. It discussed the differences between the two parties along with their common goals, and established an alliance that has been influential in the Lebanese politics since then.
WAli Akbar Mohtashamipur or Mohtashami was an Iranian Shia cleric who was active in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and later became interior minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He is "seen as a founder of the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon" and one of the "radical elements advocating the export of the revolution," in the Iranian clerical hierarchy.
WGhazi Nasr Al-Din is a Lebanese Venezuelan who served as charge d'affaires of the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus, Syria and is accused of assisting Hezbollah.
WRussia and the Iran–Israel proxy conflict deals with Russian foreign policy in the Middle East during the early 2000s, in light of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict.
WThe Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition, also referred to as 4+1, is a joint intelligence-sharing cooperation between opponents of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with operation rooms in Syria's Damascus and Iraq's Green Zone in Baghdad. It was formed as a consequence of an agreement reached at the end of September 2015 between Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic to "help and cooperate in collecting information about the terrorist Daesh group" (ISIL) with a view to combatting the advances of the group, according to the statement issued by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. The statement also cited "the increasing concern from Russia about thousands of Russian terrorists committing criminal acts within ISIS."
WThe Tourist Landmark of the Resistance, also known as Museum for Resistance Tourism, is a war museum operated by Hezbollah near the village of Mleeta in southern Lebanon. The museum opened on May 25, 2010, marking the 10th anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. The site was once an important base for Hezbollah fighters.
WTrans World Airlines Flight 847 was a flight from Cairo to San Diego with en route stops in Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles. On the morning of June 14, 1985, Flight 847 was hijacked shortly after take off from Athens. The hijackers demanded the release of 700 Shia Muslims from Israeli custody and took the plane repeatedly to Beirut and Algiers. Later Western analysis considered them members of the Hezbollah militant group, an allegation Hezbollah rejects.
WOn September 20, 1984, the Shi'a Islamic militant group Hezbollah, with support and direction from the Islamic Republic of Iran, carried out a suicide car bombing targeting the U.S. embassy annex in East Beirut, Lebanon. The attack killed 24 people.
WThe April 18, 1983 United States embassy bombing was a suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 32 Lebanese, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passers-by. The victims were mostly embassy and CIA staff members, but also included several US soldiers and one US Marine Security Guard. It was the deadliest attack on a US diplomatic mission up to that time, and was considered the beginning of Islamist attacks on US targets.
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