Hezbollah (International Relations)

Introduction

Established in 1985 in Lebanon, Hezbollah (alternative spellings: Hizballah or Hizbullah) is a political party run by Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, which leads an armed resistance against Israel, and manages a large network of organizations providing an array of social services to Shiʿite groups. Closely affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and with strong ties to Syria, Hezbollah joined the Lebanese parliament in 1992, and became part of the Lebanese government in 2005. Despite being globally defamed as a terrorist organization, and perhaps losing its clout in parts of the Arab world, Hezbollah’s military, political, and social roles are still significant. A wide literature tackles Hezbollah. The party’s cadres and sympathizers publish about it (often in Arabic), reproducing its discourse. International think tanks regularly publish reports about Hezbollah’s actions and their impacts. Two main strands dominate scholarly works. One depicts it as terrorist organization, focusing on its fundamentalist ideology, propagandist media, and military actions. This strand often lacks context and simplifies the actual situation. The other strand, more critical, analyzes Hezbollah as a political party and a social movement, unpacking its organizational structure and its religious ideals, showing their complexity and contradictions. This strand places Hezbollah in the historical context of the Shiʿite social and political struggle, and includes analysis examining Hezbollah’s relation to Iran, Syria, Israel, and the West. Some of it also situates the party’s actions in relation to political Islam and post-Islamism and relates to the failure of the welfare state, as well as the increasingly pragmatic role of Islamist groups in the Middle East. Moreover, works have examined Hezbollah’s relations to the Lebanese political system, arguing how it is “a state within a state,” (or a “nonstate”), but also how it has become “Lebanonized.” A number of studies shed light on the party’s organizational structure and its network of institutions, shedding light on the multiple dimensions of its social welfare and on its urban governance policies. Some analysts have also worked on Hezbollah’s multiple tactics during wars and conflicts, and on the construction of its image in diverse media. Others have investigated the party’s constituency, either underscoring its domination by Hezbollah or how issues of gender, class, age, morality, and urban geography variably affect its practices of piety, and its belonging to the Islamic milieu.

General Overviews

Overviews of Hezbollah will widely differ depending on the author. Norton 2014 is one of the most comprehensive and objective books that one must begin with, as it debunks the dominant narrative about Hezbollah being a terrorist organization that should be eradicated, and reveals how it is embedded in the social, political, and economic fabric and supported by large numbers of people who are not to be dismissed as fanatic and brainwashed. It can be complemented with Azani 2011 to get an idea about the terrorist argument and the stereotypes that dominate studies on Hezbollah. The rest of the list provides essential references that highlight different dimensions that make up the party. Saad-Ghorayeb 2002 investigates Hezbollah’s religious and political ideology and the concept of velayat-e faqih (the government of the jurisprudent), as well as Hezbollah’s changing relations to Iran and Syria. Harik 2004 offers one of the first insider’s views into the party’s organizations, revealing how it evolved over time to deploy an array of strategies to integrate and adapt with a changing geopolitical system. Hamzeh 2004 unpacks Hezbollah’s ideology and showcases qualitatively and quantitatively its ability to maneuver the Lebanese political system. Alagha 2006 is a key reference analyzing the shifting political and religious ideology of Hezbollah. For those who read French, Harb 2010 will provide a useful meta-analysis of the party’s social and urban service provision network, as well as the governance features that explain the durability and effectiveness of its collective action and social mobilization. Also for the French readers, Mervin 2008 is a precious and very accessible edited volume published after the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon; it synthesizes the numerous dimensions of Hezbollah’s political and social action, and provides useful definitions and references of the key concepts related to Shiʿism. In addition, readers may find a lot of background material that provides information about the party’s organizations, narratives, official statements and speeches, and so on, of which a short selection is presented here.

Alagha, Joseph. The Shifts in Hizballah Ideology: Religious Ideology, Political Ideolgy and Political Program. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006.
DOI: 10.5117/9789053569108Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Relying on unpublished sources, and firsthand encounters with Hezbollah’s cadres, this book examines the transformation of Hezbollah into a pragmatic political party. Useful appendices, including Hezbollah’s statements, parliamentary elections programs, and 2004 municipal elections program.
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Azani, Eitan. Hezbollah: The Story of the Party of God; From Revolution to Institutionalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
DOI: 10.1057/9780230116290Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An account of Hezbollah by an Israeli policy analyst who argues that, despite its pragmatic transformation, the party still maintains its revolutionary goals associated with Iran. A good example of the terrorist perception of the party.
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Hamzeh, Ahmad N. In the Path of Hizbullah. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2004.
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Presents one of the first analysis of the organizational structure and functions of the party, based on firsthand accounts with party members, and thorough accounts of Islamic theology, history, and the group’s ideologues’ writings. Also includes valuable tables and figures, providing quantitative and qualitative data on the participation of Hezbollah in Lebanese local and national politics.
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Harb, Mona. Le Hezbollah à Beyrouth (1985–2005). De la banlieue à la ville. Paris: Karthala, 2010.
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Provides a rare meta-analysis of the organizational networks, urban politics, and governance of Hezbollah, focusing on its provision of social and urban services in Dahiya (south Beirut). Argues that the success and durability of Hezbollah is associated with its embeddedness in the social and territorial fabric of the city. Parts of the author’s findings have been translated into English in AlSayyad and Massoumi’s The Fundamentalist City (2010).
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Harik, Judith Palmer. Hezbollah: The Changing Face of Terrorism. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
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Examines the transformation of Hezbollah from an underground, radical militia to a mainstream political party, unraveling the multiple tactics used to integrate it with Lebanese plural society, from political networking with Christian groups to employment and service provision for Shiʿi groups. Provides also a fascinating analysis of the military strategies of the party before and after the “security zone,” particularly its guerrilla warfare in the age of multimedia communication.
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Mervin, Sabrina, ed. Le Hezbollah: État des Lieux. Paris: Sindbad, 2008.
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This edited interdisciplinary volume by an eminent historian of Shiʿism compiles entries by key authors on Hezbollah (including several she authored) that showcase the complex diversity of the political party in the aftermath of the 2006 war. The book also includes a useful chronology of events, and a valuable glossary of key terms pertaining to Shiʿi religion.
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Norton, Augustus Richard. Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.
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Argues against the simplistic reading of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization to be destroyed, and demonstrates how Hezbollah maintains its popularity in the Middle East by providing a thorough historical, political, and social analysis of the party. A concise, rigorous, and essential read.
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Saad-Ghorayeb, Amal. Hizbu’llah: Politics and Religion. London: Pluto, 2002.
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Elucidates the concept of velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Jurisprudent, sometimes given as wilayat al-faqih)—the cornerstone of Hezbollah’s political and religious ideology. Using direct interviews with party members, the author also examines the party’s evolving place within the Lebanese political system, as well as its position vis-à-vis anti-Westernism, anti-Zionism, and anti-Judaism, providing detailed original findings.
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Historical Background

The Shiʿite community in Lebanon has a long history of political persecution and socioeconomic marginalization, carefully examined in Mervin 2000 (in French), which highlights the key role of intellectuals and religious scholars in the community historically. Weiss 2010 and Abisaab and Abisaab 2014 are welcome English additions to this history. While the first investigates the emergence of a multifaceted Shiʿi modern collective identity during the French mandate period, the second unpacks Shiʿi sociopolitical, economic, and intellectual transformations in Lebanon since the 1920s. Nasr 1985, an excellent article (also in French), examines the demographic transition of the Shiʿite community during the 1970s. The rise of Imam Musa al-Sadr transformed the 1960s mobilization into the armed Amal movement that becomes exclusively Shiʿite in the mid-1970s, as Ajami 1986 and Norton 1987 narrate. Al-Sadr’s disappearance in Libya in 1978 and the Islamic Revolution in Iran were determining factors that led to the split of the Amal movement, and to the emergence of Hezbollah in 1985 with its Open Letter. During those years, Hezbollah established its network of social organizations, supported by Iran, while also being involved in several terrorist activities and fighting Amal to take over the control of Beirut’s southern suburbs—collectively known as the Dahiya, which came under its control in 1989 (Harb 2003). After the signature of the 1990 Taif agreement marking the end of the Lebanese civil war, the internal ranks of Hezbollah disagreed substantively on its course of action. While a group of pragmatics wanted to join the Lebanese political system and participate in the 1992 parliamentary elections, another group, led by Subhi al-Tufayli, saw this as treason (Hamzeh 1993). The moderates ultimately ousted them, and elected Hassan Nasrallah as secretary general in 1992, after the assassination of Abbas Moussawi by the Israelis. Nasrallah has held this position ever since. Inspired by Sayyid Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in its early years, Hezbollah slowly drifted away from him when he established himself as an independent religious reference (marja’ taqlid) in the early 1990s, and the party remained a loyal follower to Khamanei’s velayat-e faqih (Saouli 2014).

Abisaab, Rula Jurdi, and Malek Abisaab. The Shi‘ites of Lebanon: Modernism, Communism, and Hizbullah’s Islamists. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2014.
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One of the rare studies that position the party in the complex political, social, and legal history of the Lebanese Shiʿites, and that investigate it in relation to the wider geopolitics of Iraq and Iran.
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Ajami, Fouad. The Vanished Imam: Musa al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986.
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An essential read to understand the period preceding the emergence of Hezbollah, and the conditions that led to the development of the Shiʿi social and political mobilization, namely around the figure of Imam Musa al-Sadr, who established the movement of the downtrodden—the Amal movement and its militia.
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Hamzeh, Nizar A. “Lebanon’s Hizbullah: From Islamic Revolution to Parliamentary Accommodation.” Third World Quarterly 14–2 (1993): 321–337.
DOI: 10.1080/01436599308420327Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Provides an essential analysis of the ideological shifts of Hezbollah post-Taif, including its decision to take part in national elections. Includes a diagram of the general structure of the party, a list of its health institutions, and a table of Hezbollah’s received votes.
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Harb, Mona. “La Dâhiye de Beyrouth: Parcours d’une stigmatisation urbaine, consolidation d’un territoire politique.” Genèses 51 (2003): 70–91.
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In this article, the author narrates the story of the name Dahiya (suburb in Arabic), linking it to the state’s failed urban policies in this part of the city, the rise of Hezbollah and Amal in the disenfranchised peripheries of Beirut, and the identity claims they made on territory.
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Mervin, Sabrina. Un réformisme chiite: Ulémas et lettrés du Gabal-Amil (actuel Liban-sud) de la fin de l’Empire ottoman à l’indépendence du Liban. Paris: Karthala, 2000.
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In this seminal book, Mervin examines the social structure underpinning the Shiʿite community of Jabal ʿAmil (today’s south Lebanon) from the end of the Ottoman Empire through the French mandate. She focuses particularly on the religious scholars and the intellectuals, and their relationship to the political elites.
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Nasr, Salim. “La transition des chiites vers Beyrouth: Mutations sociales et mobilisation communautaire à la veille de 1975.” In Mouvements Communautaires et espaces urbains au Machreq. Edited by Mona Zakaria and Bachchâr Chbarou, 87–116. Beirut: Cermoc, 1985.
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In this rich article documenting the demographic transition of Shiʿites into Beirut, Nasr provides unique data that profiles the social and urban changes that mark the political and geographic transformation of Beirut’s southern suburbs prior to the Lebanese civil war.
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Norton, Augustus Richard. Amal and the Shiʿa: Struggle for the Soul of Lebanon. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1987.
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Presents a thorough and useful account of the rise and consolidation of the Amal movement. Norton was part of the United Nations forces stationed in Lebanon, and he forged close-knit relations with Amal’s political and religious leaders, as well as prominent Shiʿi families in the south of Lebanon, which gave him privileged access to information. Appendixes include the charter of the Amal movement as well as the text of Hezbollah’s Open Letter.
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Saouli, Adham. “Intellectuals and Political Power in Social Movements: The Parallel Paths of Fadlallah and Hizbullah.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 41.1 (2014): 97–116.
DOI: 10.1080/13530194.2014.878509Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A judicious article that unpacks the relationship of Hezbollah to religious jurisprudent Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, showing their early links, their progressive separation, and their common worldview of resistance.
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Weiss, Max. In the Shadow of Sectarianism: Law, Shiʿism, and the Making of Modern Lebanon. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.
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Weiss provides a new reading of the political and social history of Shiʿites in Lebanon by focusing on the French mandate period, showing how Shiʿi’s negotiations with authorities—which he studies through an archive of court records—allowed gradual social transformations and new political realities, which formed the grounds of later mobilizations.
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Organizational Structure and Image-Making

Several scholars, focusing on both macro and meso levels, have studied Hezbollah’s structure and organization. AbuKhalil 1991 argues that Hezbollah is structured similarly to other revolutionary organizations that adapted Leninist principles. Hamzeh 1993 was one of the earliest works to reveal the internal architecture of the party apparatus. Harb and Leenders 2005 examines the various units making up the party’s service provision network, showing how they operate holistically, integrating ideology and meaning within technical and professional know-how. Harb 2009 investigates Hezbollah-led local governments and their development initiatives in rural and urban settings. Several authors have looked at the image-making process of Hezbollah, studying its organizations, mobilization role, and mechanisms (e.g., Lamloum 2009) and its changing strategies over time (e.g., Khatib, et al. 2014). Maasri 2012 examines the changing visual language of Hezbollah through a study of its political posters, while also articulating the party’s attempts to speak to a more transnational and global audience. A useful online source to consult is Muqawama, the official website of Hezbollah.

AbuKhalil, As‘ad. “Ideology and Practice of Hizballah in Lebanon: Islamization of Leninist Organizational Principles.” Middle Eastern Studies 27.3 (1991): 390–403.
DOI: 10.1080/00263209108700867Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is one of the earliest articles analyzing Hezbollah’s organizational structure, in which the author of the notorious Angry Arab blog compellingly argues that the party is “an Islamic adaptation of Leninist revolutionary organizations,” similar to other groups in the Arab world.
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Hamzeh, Nizar A. “Lebanon’s Hizbullah: From Islamic Revolution to Parliamentary Accommodation.” Third World Quarterly 14.2 (1993): 321–337.
DOI: 10.1080/01436599308420327Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Provides an essential analysis of the ideological shifts of Hezbollah post-Taif, including its decision to take part in national elections. Includes a diagram of the general structure of the party, a list of its health institutions, and a table of Hezbollah’s received votes.
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Harb, Mona. “La gestion du local par les municipalités du Hezbollah.” Critique Internationale 42 (2009): 57–72.
DOI: 10.3917/crii.042.0057Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
One of the rare articles investigating Hezbollah’s role in local development, in which the author analyzes the rhetoric of three mayors who belong to Hezbollah’s apparatus and shows how the Islamist agenda operates more as a developmentalist organization than as an ideological project.
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Harb, Mona, and Reinoud Leenders. “Know thy Enemy: Hizbullah, “Terrorism” and the Politics of Perception.” Third World Quarterly 26.1 (2005): 173–197.
DOI: 10.1080/0143659042000322973Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Authors argue here for a holistic understanding of Hezbollah’s structure, they highlight the military and the social dimensions inherent to the concept of resistance within the party.
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Khatib, Lina, Dina Matar, and Atef Alshaer. The Hizbullah Phenomenon: Politics and Communication. London: Hurst, 2014.
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Investigates the political communication strategy of Hezbollah, and the tactics it deploys to adapt to changing circumstances, providing an engaging text where culture, language, and visuals are examined in relation to political mobilization.
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Lamloum, Olfa. “Hezbollah’s Media: Political History in Outline.” Global Media and Communication 5.3 (2009): 353–367.
DOI: 10.1177/1742766509348673Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Relying on firsthand data, the author, who has also researched other Islamist medias in the Middle East, examines the media apparatus of Hezbollah, highlighting how it assists the party in mobilizing its constituency, both socially and politically, but also serves as a window onto its multiple identities and its internal contradictions.
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Maasri, Zeina. “The Aesthetics of Belonging: Transformations in Hizbullah’s Political Posters (1985–2006).” Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 5.2 (2012): 149–189.
DOI: 10.1163/187398612X641879Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Relying on a rich archive of posters, the author analyzes their visual and graphic components and aesthetics as indicators of its paradigmatic political changes through two decades, showing how Hezbollah seeks to negotiate its image to reach a wider Lebanese public.
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Muqawama.org.
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The official website of Hezbollah provides daily news and information on party leaders, the general secretary, political activities, speeches, and Islamic resistance, in addition to dedicated sections on the incursions of Israel on Lebanese territory, martyrs, the 2006 war, the 2009 manifesto, Palestine, games, posters, and caricatures.
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Social, Cultural, and Urban Policies

A group of authors focused on the mesolevel of Hezbollah’s organizational structure, seeking to understand how its institutions function, and to elaborate different sector policies. Fawaz 2005 and Harb 2010 examine how the party’s organizations operate through a socio-spatial logic and are able to efficiently mobilize dwellers, using networks of volunteer women and a territorial approach to service delivery. They also look at the organizations and various tools used by Hezbollah to socialize and mobilize people, especially youth, into the Resistance society. Both works also explore the ways Hezbollah has used urban planning tools in large-scale reconstruction projects to further its political agenda at the expense of the urban realm (Harb 2001, Fawaz 2009). Al-Harithy 2010 additionally documents Hezbollah’s role in defining the post-2006 war reconstruction agendas and projects. The most significant of these reconstruction projects is Waad, which can be explored through its website, Waad. Le Thomas 2012 examines the educational institutions of the party. Lefort 2007 looks at youth mobilization initiatives, while Moroy 2000 researches Hezbollah’s reliance on sports. Cammett and Issar 2010 conducted survey research to explain the logics of health service provision in relation to beneficiaries, comparatively to other Lebanese sectarian political groups.

Cammett, Melani, and Sukriti Issar. “Bricks and Mortar Clientelism: Sectarianism and the Logics of Welfare Allocation in Lebanon.” World Politics 62.3 (2010): 381–421.
DOI: 10.1017/S0043887110000080Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Presents a specialized comparative study of health services provided by Future Movement and Hezbollah in Lebanon, demonstrating how the former provides more out-group services than the latter, and how the latter favors service delivery in high-density Shiʿite areas.
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Fawaz, Mona. “Agency and Ideology in Community Services: Islamic NGOs in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut.” In NGOs and Governance in the Arab World. Edited by Sarah Ben Néfissa, Nabil Abd al-Fattah, Sari Hanafi, and Carlos Milani, 229–256. Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2005.
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In this chapter, Fawaz delves into the community work of Hezbollah’s NGOs in the southern suburbs of Beirut, focusing on its reliance on “self-sufficiency” projects and “volunteer sisters” in its social work, and highlighting the pros and cons of the politics of identity.
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Fawaz, Mona. “Hezbollah as Urban Planner? Questions to and from Planning Theory.” Planning Theory 8.4 (2009): 323–334.
DOI: 10.1177/1473095209341327Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Analyzes Hezbollah’s role in the reconstruction project of Haret Hreik, in the aftermath of the 2006 war on Lebanon, showing how the party astutely dominated the urban planning process and established the Waad project, led by the concern to urgently rebuild the neighborhood and maintain the loyalty of its social base.
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Harb, Mona. “Urban Governance in Post-War Beirut: Resources, Negotiations, and Contestations in the Elyssar Project.” In Capital Cities: Ethnographies of Urban Governance in the Middle East. Edited by Seteney Shami, 111–133. Toronto: Centre for Urban & Community Studies, University of Toronto, 2001.
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In this work, Harb examines the roles of Hezbollah and the Amal movement in negotiating one of the major urban projects during postwar Lebanon, highlighting their capacity to alter their narratives and co-opt their constituency to play the Lebanese political game of sectarian power sharing.
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Harb, Mona. “On Religiosity and Spatiality: Lessons from Hezbollah in Beirut.” In The Fundamentalist City? Religiosity and the Remaking of Urban Space. Edited by Nezar AlSayyad and Mejgan Massoumi, 125–154. London: Routledge, 2010.
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In this book chapter, the author examines the relationship of Hezbollah’s organizational structure to urban space, underscoring the importance of geography to its social, political, and cultural strategy of mobilization.
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al-Harithy, Howayda, ed. Lessons in Postwar Reconstruction: Case Studies from Lebanon in the Aftermath of the 2006 War. London: Routledge, 2010.
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In this illustrated edited volume, Lebanese urban planners and urban designers who got mobilized after the 2006 war on Lebanon to provide professional advice to Hezbollah’s decision makers leading the reconstruction process, and who advocate a participatory approach to rebuilding, tell their story.
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Lefort, Bruno. “Être jeune au Hezbollah.” Revue Internationale et Stratégique 66–2 (2007): 25–36.
DOI: 10.3917/ris.066.0025Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the strategies used by Hezbollah to recruit youth in university settings, how these strategies get adapted to place and time, and how youth re-appropriate and sometimes transform Hezbollah’s identity narratives to their life-worlds.
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Le Thomas, Catherine. Les écoles chiites au Liban: Construction communautaire et mobilisation politique. Paris: Karthala, 2012.
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Presents a thorough analysis of the evolution of the education policies of Shiʿi actors in Lebanon since the 1960s, with a focus on Hezbollah’s schools since the early 1980s. Le Thomas systematically investigates the various mechanisms through which socialization processes take place within schools, such as manuals, dress codes, theater classes, and religious rituals.
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Moroy, Franck. “Le sport comme adjuvant à l’action politique: Le cas du Hezbollah à Beyrouth.” Politix 13.50 (2000): 93–106.
DOI: 10.3406/polix.2000.1088Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Studies the role of Hezbollah in establishing and supporting the football club Al-Ahed, and how politics and sports are intermingled in Lebanon.
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Waad.
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Provides information and images on the reconstruction project of Haret Hreik, the neighborhood in the southern suburb destroyed during the 2006 Israeli war. Focuses on the architecture of the project, and provides a searchable visual database of all reconstructed buildings. Also includes videos by the project’s architect on the southern suburbs and on the project’s process of work.
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Wars and Tactics

Few writings analyzed the military tactics used by Hezbollah until its success in surviving the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, which led to more than 1,200 deaths in Lebanon and massive destruction, and ended in what Hezbollah termed its “divine victory.” The 2006 war generated a profusion of writings analyzing the context of the war and its multifaceted dimensions, of which we note two edited volumes, in English and in French: Hovsepian 2008 and Mermier and Picard 2007. The war also led to studies about the military strategies of Hezbollah (Schleifer 2006, Blanford 2011), as well as its reliance on other technologies, such as cyberspace tactics (al-Rizzo 2008), media strategies (Harb 2009), and videos (el-Houri and Saber 2010). (Hezbollah’s reliance on media in its war tactics is further discussed under Organizational Structure and Image-Making.) An interesting illustration of the party’s construction of a global image of resistance can be found by browsing the Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark website. In addition, analysts have compared Hezbollah’s strategies to those of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), highlighting the difficulties the IDF had in challenging them effectively (Gabrielsen 2013, Matthews 2008). The participation of Hezbollah in the ongoing Syrian war has also started yielding some writings—mostly media reports—that examine its strategic use of multiple resources. International Crisis Group 2014, cited under Relations with Iran and Syria, is a good reference in this respect.

Blanford, Nicholas. Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah’s Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel. New York: Random House, 2011.
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Presents a comprehensive account of Hezbollah’s ideology and training, with a focus on its military tactics, weapons, electronic warfare, and communications systems. Blanford is a journalist who has investigated Hezbollah’s fighters and leaders over a long period of time.
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Gabrielsen, Iver. “Military Strategy and the Conduct of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War.” Comparative Strategy 32.5 (2013): 435–442.
DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2013.840206Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A scholarly analysis of the military strategies deployed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah during the 2006 war, underscoring the different tactics and strategies employed by each, and how Hezbollah gained the upper ground in the battle.
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Harb, Zahera. “Aiming at Liberation: Al-Manar Media Campaigns against the Israeli Occupation of Southern Lebanon (1998–2000).” Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 2.1 (2009): 51–75.
DOI: 10.1163/187398609X430615Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the role of Hezbollah’s media in leading to the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, specifically the role of the journalists in al-Manar TV, qualifying their work as “liberation propaganda.”
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Hovsepian, Nubar, ed. The War on Lebanon: A Reader. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2008.
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In this rich edited volume, a large group of professional analysts investigate the 2006 war on Lebanon from a multidisciplinary perspective, tackling various dimensions of the conflict, including politics, economics, ethics, law, Hezbollah’s leadership and constituency, and military strategy.
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el-Houri, Walid, and Dima Saber. “Filming Resistance: A Hezbollah Strategy.” Radical History Review 106 (2010): 70–85.
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Using a framework of power and knowledge, the authors astutely analyze the use of videos by Hezbollah fighters who film and broadcast their armed operations, showing how this is a resistance strategy that inverts relations of power.
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Matthews, Matt M. We Were Caught Unprepared: The 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli War. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, 2008.
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This is a publication by a historian of the US Army Combined Arms Center, which analyzes the 2006 war, examining the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah’s doctrines, as well as the operational and tactical problems encountered by the IDF.
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Mermier, Franck, and Elizabeth Picard, eds. Liban, une guerre de 33 jours. Paris: La Découverte, 2007.
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Seeking to debunk the stereotypes that ruled the media and other outlets during the 2006 war on Lebanon, the authors bring in prominent French and Lebanese scholars to discuss the multifaceted dimensions of the conflict, and its aftermath.
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Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark.
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The website of a museum celebrating and narrating Hezbollah’s military resistance and prowess. An analysis of Mleeta can be found in Harb and Deeb 2011, cited under Constituency, Piety, and the Islamic Milieu.
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al-Rizzo, Hasan M. “The Undeclared Cyberspace War between Hezbollah and Israel.” Contemporary Arab Affairs 1.3 (2008): 391–405.
DOI: 10.1080/17550910802163889Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An examination of the cyberspace war between Hezbollah and Israel, showcasing the multidimensional aspects of the conflict, and the party’s increasing use of information technology and digital tools to destabilize the enemy.
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Schleifer, Ron. “Psychological Operations: A New Variation on an Age-Old Art: Hezbollah vs. Israel.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29.1 (2006): 1–19.
DOI: 10.1080/10576100500351185Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Argues that the strength of Hezbollah’s military strategy is in its psychological warfare techniques that include messages delivered to targeted Israeli audiences, specific means of delivery, and a sophisticated doctrine that evolved over time and ultimately led to Israel’s withdrawal from South Lebanon.
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Relations with the Lebanese State

Two views dominate studies on Hezbollah’s relations with the Lebanese state. One demonizes its actions as conducive to an Islamist Shiʿi ghetto, and a “state within a state” (Charara 1996, cited under Constituency, Piety, and the Islamic Milieu), while the other highlights the party’s pragmatic abilities to become “Lebanonized” (Ranstrop 2007), and compromise its religious and political ideals to the specificities of the Lebanese political system (Hamzeh 1994, Norton 1999). Picard 1993 is also essential reading, as it highlights the historical, political, and economic contexts of this relationship, while focusing on the difficulties of change constrained by sectarian elite politics. The relation of Hezbollah to the Lebanese state changed drastically in the 2000s, in the aftermath of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon (International Crisis Group 2003). Following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005, the Syrian army withdrew, and Israeli then waged a war on Hezbollah in 2006 (Leenders 2006). This was followed by acute Shiʿi-Sunni polarization in Lebanon that ended up in violent confrontations in Beirut between Hezbollah and Hariri’s Future Movement in May 2008, and the formation of a consensus government, which included Hezbollah’s ministers for the first time (International Crisis Group 2008).

Hamzeh, Nizar A. “Clan Conflicts, Hezbollah and the Lebanese State.” Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies 19.4 (1994): 433–446.
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This is a rare and compelling account of the role of Hezbollah in managing local group conflicts, in the context of tribal traditions and Lebanese laws. Hamzeh investigates how the party has been able to take over the role of the state in regulating clan conflicts, and also establish itself as a main reference for these powerful groups that dominate the Beqaa region.
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International Crisis Group. Hizbollah: Rebel without a Cause? Middle East Briefing 7. Amman and Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2003.
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A very well-researched ICG report examining Hezbollah’s position and decision-making process after the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000, and its changing relation to the Lebanese state.
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International Crisis Group. Lebanon: Hizbollah’s Weapons Turn Inward. Middle Eat Briefing 23. Beirut and Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2008.
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ICG reports on the 7 May 2008 armed clashes in Beirut, during which forces led by Hezbollah took over the military positions of Hariri’s Future Movement in Beirut, irrevocably changing the rules of the political game in Lebanon, and its interaction with several political groups.
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Leenders, Reinoud. “How the Rebel Regained His Cause: Hizbullah and the Sixth Arab-Israeli War.” MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies 6 (2006): 38–57.
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Leenders reports on Hezbollah’s symbolic capital gains in the 2006 war, analyzing in its latter part General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah’s populist discourses that succeeded in assembling Lebanese and Arab public opinion, and highlighting the various audiences Hezbollah manages to mobilize.
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Norton, Augustus Richard. Hizballah of Lebanon: Extremist Ideals vs. Mundane Politics. New York: Council of Foreign Relations, 1999.
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In this now classic essay by Norton, the author investigates the political shift undertaken by Hezbollah to join “the game of politics,” despite structural constraints and existential dilemmas facing its ideology.
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Picard, Elizabeth. The Lebanese Shiʿa and Political Violence. UNRISD Discussion Paper 42. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 1993.
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In this valuable paper, Picard conceptualizes violence as a political means of resistance to economic deprivation and dispossession, and highlights the laissez-faire role of the Lebanese state in conducing the Shiʿi community to warfare. She unpacks the culture of violence, and underscores the competition among political elites, which restricts the restoration of a Lebanese state.
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Ranstrop, Magnus. “The Strategy and Tactics of Hizballah’s Current ‘Lebanonization Process.’” Mediterranean Politics 3.1 (2007): 103–134.
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This article describes the pragmatic transformation of Hezbollah from a military and terrorist organization into a political and social actor, and its ability to maneuver Iranian and Syrian geopolitics.
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Relations with Iran and Syria

Studies that tackle the relations of Hezbollah with Iran either present it as a mere proxy (Ranstrop 1994, Caudill 2008, cited under Relations with the West) or emphasize its agency, while noting the complex sectarian political context it engages with in Lebanon, which leads to hybrid outcomes. A good and easy-to-read overview of these debates is found in Samii 2008. Chehabi 2006 is an essential read in this context, as it unravels the historical underpinnings of the emergence of Hezbollah and its relations to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mervin 2007 is also an important reference, as it places Hezbollah in the larger context of what Mervin terms the relation of Iran with Shiʿi “worlds,” highlighting the heterogeneity of beliefs and belongings, and countering the framing of the region as a menacing “Shiʿi crescent” (Nasr 2007). Hezbollah’s relationship with Syria is less investigated in the literature. El-Hokayem 2007 unpacks the key stages of the relations of Hezbollah and Syria over a quarter of a century. With the participation of Hezbollah in the ongoing Syrian war, more writings (mostly media reports) have addressed the relationship between both stakeholders. Among the noteworthy publications, International Crisis Group 2014 provides a wealth of information on the topic, as does Conduit 2014.

Chehabi, H. E., ed. Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the Last 500 Years. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.
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This must-read edited volume is the only study that unpacks the history of the relations between Iran and Lebanon since the 16th century, providing a survey of their transnational ties and their major episodes. The authors underscore the multiple dimensions of these relations—cultural, commercial, and political. Published in conjunction with the Centre for Lebanese Studies.
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Conduit, Dara. “Hizballah in Syria: The Limits of the Democracy/Moderation Paradigm.” Ortadogu Etutleri 5.2 (2014): 81–114.
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In this well-conceptualized piece, Conduit uses the framework of democratic moderation to argue that Hezbollah’s transition to democratic politics has failed, as demonstrated by its military interventions in the ongoing Syria war, as well as a number of earlier interventions on the Lebanese domestic scene.
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el-Hokayem, Emile. “Hizballah and Syria: Outgrowing the Proxy Relationship.” The Washington Quarterly 30–2 (2007): 35–52.
DOI: 10.1162/wash.2007.30.2.35Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Overviews the complex relations between Hezbollah and Syria over twenty-five years, and their transformation from volatile exchanges in the 1980s, to adaptation in the 1990s, to strategic alliance in the 2000s.
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International Crisis Group. Lebanon’s Hizbollah Turns Eastward to Syria. Middle East Report 153. Beirut and Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2014.
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This ICG report examines Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria, arguing it is shifting away from the Israeli enemy, and focusing its resources on facing a sectarian war.
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Mervin, Sabrina, ed. Les mondes chiites et l’Iran. Paris: Karthala, 2007.
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Countering the easy denomination of the “Shiʿi crescent” dominating the global media, Mervin examines the complexities of the Shiʿi worlds, within which Iran is certainly a main player but definitely not the sole one. The volume groups key authors on the topic and includes an interesting annex providing numbers on the distribution of Shiʿites over the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
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Nasr, Vali. The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007.
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This is a widely cited reference, which focuses on the claimed power struggle between Shiʿa and Sunni, and how it is determining geopolitics and violence in the Middle East. It conveys the discourse that dominates global perceptions of Hezbollah, Iran, and Shiʿism.
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Ranstrop, Magnus. “Hezbollah’s Command Leadership: Its Structure, Decision-Making and Relationship with Iranian Clergy and Institutions.” Terrorism and Political Violence 6.3 (1994): 303–339.
DOI: 10.1080/09546559408427263Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Overviews the relationship of Hezbollah with Iran from the perspective of an Israeli scholar, who argues that it is governed by allegiances between individual Hezbollah leaders and Iranian clergymen, which could be monitored to assess the future direction of the party. Includes a section on the relationship with Syria, and diagrams of the structure and leadership of Hezbollah, including names of party cadres, and of Iranian institutions at work within the party.
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Samii, Abbas Wiliam. “A Stable Structure on Shifting Sands: Assessing the Hizbullah-Iran-Syria Relationship.” Middle East Journal 62.1 (2008): 32–53.
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Authored by an analyst for the US Department of State, the article assesses the enduring relationship between Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria over the past quarter-century, and its implications for policymaking.
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Relations with the West

Caudill 2008 illustrates how the West mainly sees Hezbollah as a terrorist organization threatening its security, interests, and its way of life. Costanza 2012 investigates the alleged involvement of Hezbollah in criminal activities, while several authors advocate for the eradication and disarmament of the party (see, for example, Talbot and Harriman 2008). Other writings propose an alternative way of perceiving the party. Mansour 2010 suggests an approach to dealing with Hezbollah through which more convergence of interests could occur; Hourani 2013 argues that the destruction of Hezbollah will not help domestic, regional, or international stability, but may instead exacerbate global violence, while Noe 2006 simply notes that the eradication of the party is not a realistic possibility. Comparing Western policies toward Hamas and Hezbollah, Tocci 2007 further demonstrates that foreign policies have had a perverse impact on peace and democracy prospects.

Caudill, Shannon W. “Hizballah Rising: Iran’s Proxy Warriors.” Joint Force Quarterly 49 (2008): 128–134.
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An example of the literature produced by the US National Defense University to educate US national security professionals on Hezbollah, presenting the party as an Iranian proxy operating with other terrorist groups across the world, and posing serious threats to US interests abroad and in the homeland.
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Costanza, William. “Hizballah and its Mission in Latin America.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 35–3 (2012): 193–210.
DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2012.648155Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Overviews Hezbollah’s “illicit” and “terrorist” activities in Latin America, by tracing the activities of the Barakat network, and other claimed Hezbollah affiliates in the tri-border area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. The article suggests these activities pose a security concern vis-à-vis their bilateral relations with the United States (rather than an internal terrorist threat), and encourages the United States to play a more active cooperation role with Latin American countries to deter Hezbollah.
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Hourani, Najib B. “Lebanon: Hybrid Sovereignties and U.S. Foreign Policy.” Middle East Policy 20.1 (2013): 39–55.
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Reviews the fragmented political scene in Lebanon, including the historical role of militias and political parties, arguing that the US government’s continued portrayal of Hezbollah as a “state-within-a-state,” and as a terrorist organization to be eradicated, exacerbates instability and violence, rather than contributing to building a stronger polity in Lebanon.
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Mansour, Imad. 2010. “Washington and Hezbollah: A Rare Convergence of Interests.” Middle East Policy 17.2 (2010).
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4967.2010.00441.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines Hezbollah’s emergence, Shiʿi dominance, and intercommunal politics in Lebanon, as well as the role of Iran, arguing that the United States can play a key role in advancing its own interests if it allies with Hezbollah.
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Noe, Nicholas. The Relationship between Hizbullah and the United States in Light of the Current Situation in the Middle East. MPhil diss., Cambridge University, 2006.
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Investigates the relationship between Hezbollah and the United States, focusing on the shifts between both actors, and elucidating the reasons behind the failure of US efforts to contain Hezbollah.
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Talbot, Brent J., and Heidi Harriman. “Disarming Hezbollah.” Mediterranean Quarterly 19.4 (2008): 29–53.
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Shows how Hezbollah is a dominant player destabilizing Lebanon and the region, threatening peace prospects between Palestine and Israel, and confusing US foreign policy, which also seeks to enhance democratic efforts in Lebanon. It suggests to the international community that it should pursue multiparty and multiscalar policies that would push for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
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Tocci, Nathalie. “The Impact of Western Policies towards Hamas and Hezbollah: What Went Wrong?” In Political Islam and European Foreign Policy: Perspectives from Muslim Democrats of the Mediterranean. Edited by Michael Emerson and Richard Youngs. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, 2007.
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Reviews Western policies toward Hamas and Hezbollah, showing they have delayed peace, democracy, and good governance, as well as interstate and intrastate reconciliation processes in Palestine and Lebanon.
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Constituency, Piety, and the Islamic Milieu

Hezbollah’s legitimacy is strongly related to the enduring loyalty of its constituency. Haddad 2013 argues that Hezbollah’s social base is supportive because of its high levels of religiosity, its political alienation, and its access to services, while Charara 1996 and Toufic 2005 believe that people are locked into Hezbollah’s exclusive hegemony. Cambanis 2011 provides an insider’s account of the ordinary lives of several types of people supporting the party, while Abi-Samra 2001 is a documentary film about the life experience of two women who support the party, underscoring the complexities of their belonging. In their work, Mona Harb and Lara Deeb propose a more complex reading of Hezbollah’s constituency, highlighting the multifaceted and changing aspects of their piety as related to gender, age, education, class, and life experiences, and as dependent on place and time (see Deeb 2006, Deeb and Harb 2013, and Harb and Deeb 2011). They also show how Hezbollah attempts to shape what it refers to as the “Islamic milieu” (al-hala al-islamiyya) by elaborating novel cultural policies regulating leisure, tourism, music, and art, and attempting to rally an increasingly media-savvy young generation.

Abi-Samra, Maher, dir. The Women of Hezbollah. DVD. Brooklyn, NY: Icarus Films, 2001.
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This film (49 min) tells the story of the everyday lives of two women, Zaynab and Khadije, who support Hezbollah, in their poor neighborhood in the southern suburb of Beirut—mostly inhabited by displaced Shiʿites who settled there during the Lebanese civil war.
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Cambanis, Thanassis. A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War against Israel. New York: Free Press, 2011.
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An accessible book by an experienced reporter who narrates the perceptions of jihadists and ordinary people supporting Hezbollah’s war against Israel. Rich with stories and details.
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Charara, Waddah. Dawlat Hizballah: Lubnan Mujtama’an Islamiyyan. Beirut: Dar an-Nahar, 1996.
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If you must read one book in Arabic on Hezbollah, this should be it—though the language is often obscure. Through a thorough sociological eye, the author documents the systematic consolidation of the party; its progressive penetration of the social, religious, and economic spheres within the Shiʿi community; and the building of what he critically qualifies as an “Islamic stronghold” and a “war society.”
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Deeb, Lara. An Enchanted Modern. Gender and Public Piety in Shiʿi Lebanon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.
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Though not directly examining Hezbollah, this is an essential read to understand the complex social, moral, and religious makeup of its constituency, as well as its physical environment. Deeb writes eloquently about how an alternative pious modernity has been produced in southern Beirut, providing a rich ethnography of its subjects, focusing on women’s community commitment and on Shiʿi religious rituals, including Ashura.
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Deeb, Lara, and Mona Harb. Leisurely Islam: Negotiating Geography and Morality in Shiite South Beirut. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013.
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The authors investigate the leisure scene in Beirut, which has grown exponentially since 2000. They show how young people negotiate their moral norms and their spatial practices in flexible ways that reveal the complexities of being pious Shiʿi in Beirut today, thus putting the hegemony of Hezbollah in perspective.
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Haddad, Simon. “Explaining Lebanese Shii Adherence to Hezbollah: Alienation, Religiosity and Welfare provision.” Defense and Security Analysis 29.1 (2013): 16–29.
DOI: 10.1080/14751798.2013.760250Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Using survey research, the author argues that Hezbollah’s constituents support the party due to their political alienation, intense religiosity levels, and access to services.
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Harb, Mona, and Lara Deeb. “Culture as History and Landscape: Hizballah’s Efforts to Shape an Islamic Milieu in Lebanon.” Arab Studies Journal 19.1 (2011): 12–45.
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Examines the organization overseeing the cultural projects of Hezbollah and its plans to shape an “Islamic milieu” in Lebanon, focusing on their views on “culture.” The article includes a critical analysis of the Mleeta museum built in the aftermath of the 2006 war to celebrate Hezbollah’s military prowess (see Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark, cited under Wars and Tactics).
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Toufic, Fadi. Bilad Allah al-Dayyiqa: Al-Dahiya, Ahlan wa Hizban. Beirut: Dar al-Jadid, 2005.
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Among the few writings on Dahiya, the southern suburbs of Beirut, home to half-a-million mostly Shiʿi dwellers. The author critiques Hezbollah’s political and moral domination. Provides a good overview of the critiques against Hezbollah by a section of Lebanese society.