Explainer
O radical Lebanese Shiite group is part of the “Axis of Resistance”, the network of Iran’s regional allies that includes militias in Iraq, Syrian forces, Yemen’s Houthis and Hamas.
What the Hezbollah and what role does it play in Iranian strategy?
Hezbollah (“Party of God”), Hezbullah or Hizbullah, is a political party and radical Islamic group that emerged as a militia during Lebanon’s civil war, when Israel invaded the country in 1982.
It emerged with the support of Iran during the Israeli occupationalthough its ideological roots date back to the Shia Islamic revival in Lebanon in the 1960s and 1970s.
More than a militia, Hezbollah has evolved into a hybrid actor: It is a political party with parliamentary representation, maintains a highly trained armed wing and provides social services to the Lebanese Shiite community.
Its military wing is considered more powerful than the Lebanese army itself in terms of fire capacity. Estimates from analysis centers such as point to an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, including precision systems supplied or developed with Iranian support.
He has been accused of carrying out a series of bombings and plots against Jewish and Israeli targets and It is designated as a terrorist organization by Western states, Israel, the Arab Gulf countries and the Arab League.
Some Lebanese consider him a threat to the country’s stability, but he is popular among the Shiite community.
A strategic ally of Tehran
Hezbollah is part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance”, the network of Iran’s regional allies that includes militias in Iraq, Syrian forces, os from Yemen and the .
For Tehran, the movement works as an instrument of deterrence against Israel: any direct attack on Iran could trigger a response from southern Lebanon.
International security experts have described this logic as proxy war: Iran avoids direct confrontation, but supports and arms groups that confront Israel on its borders.
After the Hezbollah began almost daily exchanges of fire with Israel along the border. With the recent attacks on Iranian territory, pressure on Hezbollah increases and Northern Israel could become the scene of a broader escalation.
Lebanon in the middle of the storm
Hezbollah’s entry into an open conflict would have devastating consequences for Lebanon, which has been going through one of the worst economic crises in its history since 2019.
The country faces financial collapse, extreme inflation and political paralysis. A war with Israel could further worsen instability.
Part of Lebanese society sees Hezbollah as a force of resistance against Israel; another part accuses him of placing the country at the service of Iranian strategy.
Shiites and Sunnis: the historical division
In the Muslim world, from North Africa to Indonesia, Sunnism and Shiism, with derivations, constitute the two major currents of Islam, the first followed by more than 80% of the approximately 1.5 billion believers.
The schism between these two religious currents has remote origins, following the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 (7th century), in current Saudi Arabia, a country that remains the great reference of Sunnism in its strict Wahhabi variant.
O sunism (from ‘sunna’, the precepts based on the teachings of Muhammad), which prevailed in the majority in its various expressions, generally suggested that any believer could be the prophet’s successor after the necessary consensus among the Islamic community.
O smile (Ali’s “party”), defended, on the contrary, “dynastic” succession, a line of succession, despite the fact that in classical Islam there was no concept of hierarchy.
Four countries with a Shiite majority
Currently there are only four countries with a majority Shiite population: Iran, the main reference especially after the Islamic revolution of 1979 (93.6%), Iraq (66.92%), Bahrain (74.29%) and Azerbaijan (85%).
Iran is today the main Shiite power, especially since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Hezbollah follows the ideological line of the Iranian regime and recognizes the religious authority of the Iranian supreme leader.
Radical jihadists complain about Sunnism
The most radical jihadist groups claim Sunnism, including Al-Qaeda and the extremist group (self-styled Islamic State).
O the fundamentalist Palestinian formation in the Gaza Strip, although Sunni, it maintains a strategic relationship with Iran, based on common opposition to Israel.
Article originally published on October 11, 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7; updated on September 28, 2024 and now on March 2, 2026, following the US and Israeli attack on Iran.
