Hezbollah Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Islamic Resistance in Lebanon المقاومة الإسلامية في لبنان Al-Muqāwamah Al-Islāmīyah fī Lubnān

Secretary-General	Naim Qassem
Deputy Secretary-General	Vacant
Head of the Executive Council	Vacant
Founder	Subhi al-Tufayli Abbas al-Musawi X Hassan Nasrallah X
Founded	1985; 39 years ago (1985) (official)
Headquarters	Beirut, Lebanon
Religion	Shia Islam
National affiliation	March 8 Alliance
International affiliation	Axis of Resistance
Colours	Yellow and green
Seats in the Parliament	15 / 128 (12%)
Party flag

Hezbollah (/ˌhɛzbəˈlɑː/, /ˌxɛz-/; Arabic: حزب الله, romanized: Ḥizbu 'llāh, lit. Party of Allah – lit. Party of God) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led since 1992 by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength is assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army.

Hezbollah was established by Lebanese clerics primarily to fight the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It adopted the model set out by Ayatollah Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the party's founders adopted the name "Hezbollah" as chosen by Khomeini. Since then, close ties have developed between Iran and Hezbollah. The organization was created with the support of 1,500 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) instructors, and aggregated a variety of Lebanese Shia groups into a unified organization to resist the former Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. During the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto listed its objectives as the expulsion of "the Americans, the French and their allies definitely from Lebanon, putting an end to any colonialist entity on our land". From 1985 to 2000, Hezbollah also participated in the 1985–2000 South Lebanon conflict against the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and fought again with the IDF in the 2006 Lebanon War. During the 1990s, Hezbollah also organized volunteers to fight for the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War.

Since 1990, Hezbollah has participated in Lebanese politics, in a process which is described as the Lebanonisation of Hezbollah, and it later participated in the government of Lebanon and joined political alliances. After the 2006–08 Lebanese protests and clashes, a national unity government was formed in 2008, with Hezbollah and its opposition allies obtaining 11 of 30 cabinet seats, enough to give them veto power. In August 2008, Lebanon's new cabinet unanimously approved a draft policy statement that recognizes Hezbollah's existence as an armed organization and guarantees its right to "liberate or recover occupied lands" (such as the Shebaa Farms). Hezbollah is part of Lebanon's March 8 Alliance, in opposition to the March 14 Alliance. It maintains strong support among Lebanese Shia Muslims, while Sunnis have disagreed with its agenda. Hezbollah also has support in some Christian areas of Lebanon. Since 2012, Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war has seen it join the Syrian government in its fight against the Syrian opposition, which Hezbollah has described as a Zionist plot and a "Wahhabi-Zionist conspiracy" to destroy its alliance with Bashar al-Assad against Israel. Between 2013 and 2015, the organisation deployed its militia in both Syria and Iraq to fight or train local militias to fight against the Islamic State. In the 2018 Lebanese general election, Hezbollah held 12 seats and its alliance won the election by gaining 70 out of 128 seats in the Parliament of Lebanon.

Hezbollah did not disarm after the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, in contravention of the UN Security Council resolution 1701. From 2006, the group's military strength grew significantly, to the extent that its paramilitary wing became more powerful than the Lebanese Army. Hezbollah has been described as a "state within a state", and has grown into an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite TV station, social services and large-scale military deployment of fighters beyond Lebanon's borders. The group currently receives military training, weapons, and financial support from Iran and political support from Syria, although the sectarian nature of the Syrian war has damaged the group's legitimacy. In 2021, Nasrallah said the group had 100,000 fighters. 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 one of the country's most influential political parties, and Iraq. Russia does not view Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization" but as a "legitimate socio-political force".

Designation as a terrorist organization or resistance movement

The following entities have listed Hezbollah as a terror group:

Arab League	The entire organization Hezbollah
Argentina	The entire organization Hezbollah
Australia	The entire organization Hezbollah
Austria	The entire organization Hezbollah
Bahrain	The entire organization Hezbollah
Canada	The entire organization Hezbollah
Colombia	The entire organization Hezbollah
Czech Republic	The entire organization Hezbollah
Estonia	The entire organization Hezbollah
European Union	Hezbollah's military wing
France	The military wing of Hezbollah only, France considers the political wing as a legitimate sociopolitical organization
Germany	The entire organization Hezbollah
Gulf Cooperation Council	The entire organization Hezbollah
Guatemala	The entire organization Hezbollah
Honduras	The entire organisation Hezbollah
Israel	The entire organization Hezbollah
Kosovo	The military wing of Hezbollah
Lithuania	The entire organization Hezbollah
Netherlands	The entire organization Hezbollah
New Zealand	Hezbollah's military wing Al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, since 2010
Paraguay	The entire organization Hezbollah
Serbia	The entire organization Hezbollah
Slovenia	The entire organization Hezbollah
United Arab Emirates	The entire organization Hezbollah
United Kingdom	The entire organization Hezbollah
United States	The entire organization Hezbollah

The following countries do not consider Hezbollah a terror organization:

Algeria	Algeria refused to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization
People's Republic of China	The People's Republic of China remains neutral and maintains contacts with Hezbollah
Cuba	Hezbollah allegedly operates a base in Cuba
Iran
North Korea	Allegedly supports Hezbollah. Considers Hezbollah an organization of Lebanese patriotic forces
Russia	Considers Hezbollah a legitimate sociopolitical organization
Syria

Disputed:

Iraq

Hezbollah facts for kids

Designation as a terrorist organization or resistance movement

See also