Nickdfresh
08-21-2006, 05:58 PM
Hezbollah puts down deep roots
After its deadly war with Israel, Hezbollah's unique status as a "state within a state" is as entrenched as ever. But just what does that mean?
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8/21/2006
BAALBEK, Lebanon - More posters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini dot the walls here than in towns in his native Iran, where he toppled 2,500 years of monarchy nearly 30 years ago, established an Islamic republic and set out to export his Shiite Muslim ideology beyond his Persian home.
The first target of his global revolution was Baalbek, a predominantly Shiite city in religiously diverse, ethnically Arab Lebanon.
Support for Khomeini and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has dwindled among their own people, but here and in much of southern Lebanon, it has swelled to a fervor that once marked the early years of Iran's Islamic Revolution.
Iran's influence is embodied in Hezbollah, the party of God, Lebanon's most robust, organized and sophisticated Shiite group. Hezbollah has become a virtual state-within-a-state, with a small army of about 6,000 soldiers who just fought off mighty Israel.
Thanks to Hezbollah, Lebanon's Shiites - historically neglected and oppressed by feudal landlords - are now a rising political force. The party, with a $100 million annual budget largely supplied by Iran, runs a network of charities. Members hold positions in parliament and the Cabinet, and it has its own satellite television and radio stations.
It all began in 1982, when Khomeini dispatched about 650 of his Iranian revolutionary guards to Baalbek, ostensibly to fight off an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In the following years, that number grew to 2,000, and they set out to train local Shiite guerrillas who would soon form the core of Hezbollah.
The Iranians decorated the bleak streets of Baalbek to resemble an Iranian town, with murals of Khomeini and of women wearing the chador, the all-enveloping black cover worn by many Iranian women. They set up a training camp, but they built a hospital, too.
"We were worried when Hezbollah was first set up here," said Munira Ali, 50, a Shiite teacher who, unlike many women in Baalbek, does not cover her head in the traditional manner.
"We thought they would put the chador on our heads," she said, "that they would hijack the country, ban dancing and stop tourists coming to Baalbek," famed for its ancient Roman temples. "But when we started getting to know them, we found they are more open than us, that they are cultured, educated and not at all backward."
Today, murals still tell women that the veil is the embodiment of their honor, but unveiled women generally are not harassed, as they are in Iran.
The streets of Baalbek and the largely Shiite suburbs of Beirut, or what is left of them after recent Israeli bombardment, still resemble Iranian towns. Posters and murals of fallen Hezbollah guerrillas, set against a background of red tulips, a symbol of martyrdom in Iran, adorn walls and lamp posts.
After its 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Israel occupied a southern strip of the country for 18 years. But when it unilaterally withdrew in 2000, unwilling to endure more casualties inflicted by Hezbollah, it made the party and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, instant heroes.
"Lebanon became safe for the first time in its history," said Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's politburo. "This created a sense of trust among the people."
Nasrallah, the only Arab leader to evict Israel from Arab land without having to sign a peace treaty, was now one of the most important leaders in Lebanon. And the Shiites took center stage in the country's political arena.
During the latest conflict with Israel, Nasrallah appeared on Hezbollah's al Manar television six times, bringing the country to a standstill as everyone tuned in. His speeches are delivered in a soft voice, without the fiery, rambling rhetoric of many Arab leaders.
Munira Ali, the teacher in Baalbek, said she and many of her secular friends were drawn to Hezbollah after short, plump Nasrallah, took its helm in 1992.
"He's honest. That's the most important thing. He has an amazing charisma," she said. "I don't doubt a word he utters."
Ali; her colleague Afrah Younes, 50; and several other Shiites interviewed for this story said they regularly donate money to the party's fund for the poor, the handicapped, orphans and widows.
"Hezbollah is the only group we trust," Younes said.
In Lebanon's 128-seat parliament, where seats are allocated according to religious identity, Hezbollah is now the largest single block, with 14 deputies. The party also has two ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet.
In the beginning, Hezbollah expressed a desire to establish an Islamic state in Lebanon, but it quickly realized the impracticality in a diverse nation with large populations of Sunnis, Druse and Christians. Now, its stated goal is to stand up for the "downtrodden" Shiite population, the largest sect in Lebanon but a minority in the Arab world.
Hezbollah has changed since the 1980s, when its name was synonymous with kidnappings of Westerners and bombings of Western military and diplomatic targets.
The group was behind a string of attacks: the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and the Marine barracks and French military headquarters in Beirut, the 1984 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in east Beirut, the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane in which an American serviceman onboard was killed.
Hezbollah now says that it opposes terrorism, and it denounced the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. But it makes exceptions for Israeli targets, regarding such attacks as resistance against an oppressor.
Hezbollah is still labeled as a terrorist group by the United States, but Europeans and others agree the party has not been linked to any attack on a Western target since the 1980s.
Experts say Hezbollah has even acted as a buffer against al-Qaida in Lebanon, aborting a few attempts by the group to attack Israel from Lebanese soil. Hezbollah apparently detained 14 al-Qaida operatives in Lebanon this year and handed them over to the Lebanese army intelligence.
Hezbollah's attempts to stop al-Qaida infiltration led Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who led al-Qaida in Iraq before he was killed by American troops in Iraq, to accuse the party of acting as a border guard for Israel.
Observers say that if Hezbollah were to be dismantled, al-Qaida could fill its place and the Lebanese government would be powerless to stop it.
The conclusion of its latest war with Israel, triggered by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12, is another watershed for the party. Will Shiites and other Lebanese hail the party for courageously fighting off the Israeli army or blame it for causing widespread devastation?
In that regard, Hezbollah appears to be off to a good start. Hours after the cease-fire went into effect, Nasrallah appeared on television with a promise to help Lebanese rebuild their homes and even help them buy new furniture.
Link (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060821/1020038.asp)
After its deadly war with Israel, Hezbollah's unique status as a "state within a state" is as entrenched as ever. But just what does that mean?
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8/21/2006
BAALBEK, Lebanon - More posters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini dot the walls here than in towns in his native Iran, where he toppled 2,500 years of monarchy nearly 30 years ago, established an Islamic republic and set out to export his Shiite Muslim ideology beyond his Persian home.
The first target of his global revolution was Baalbek, a predominantly Shiite city in religiously diverse, ethnically Arab Lebanon.
Support for Khomeini and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has dwindled among their own people, but here and in much of southern Lebanon, it has swelled to a fervor that once marked the early years of Iran's Islamic Revolution.
Iran's influence is embodied in Hezbollah, the party of God, Lebanon's most robust, organized and sophisticated Shiite group. Hezbollah has become a virtual state-within-a-state, with a small army of about 6,000 soldiers who just fought off mighty Israel.
Thanks to Hezbollah, Lebanon's Shiites - historically neglected and oppressed by feudal landlords - are now a rising political force. The party, with a $100 million annual budget largely supplied by Iran, runs a network of charities. Members hold positions in parliament and the Cabinet, and it has its own satellite television and radio stations.
It all began in 1982, when Khomeini dispatched about 650 of his Iranian revolutionary guards to Baalbek, ostensibly to fight off an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In the following years, that number grew to 2,000, and they set out to train local Shiite guerrillas who would soon form the core of Hezbollah.
The Iranians decorated the bleak streets of Baalbek to resemble an Iranian town, with murals of Khomeini and of women wearing the chador, the all-enveloping black cover worn by many Iranian women. They set up a training camp, but they built a hospital, too.
"We were worried when Hezbollah was first set up here," said Munira Ali, 50, a Shiite teacher who, unlike many women in Baalbek, does not cover her head in the traditional manner.
"We thought they would put the chador on our heads," she said, "that they would hijack the country, ban dancing and stop tourists coming to Baalbek," famed for its ancient Roman temples. "But when we started getting to know them, we found they are more open than us, that they are cultured, educated and not at all backward."
Today, murals still tell women that the veil is the embodiment of their honor, but unveiled women generally are not harassed, as they are in Iran.
The streets of Baalbek and the largely Shiite suburbs of Beirut, or what is left of them after recent Israeli bombardment, still resemble Iranian towns. Posters and murals of fallen Hezbollah guerrillas, set against a background of red tulips, a symbol of martyrdom in Iran, adorn walls and lamp posts.
After its 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Israel occupied a southern strip of the country for 18 years. But when it unilaterally withdrew in 2000, unwilling to endure more casualties inflicted by Hezbollah, it made the party and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, instant heroes.
"Lebanon became safe for the first time in its history," said Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's politburo. "This created a sense of trust among the people."
Nasrallah, the only Arab leader to evict Israel from Arab land without having to sign a peace treaty, was now one of the most important leaders in Lebanon. And the Shiites took center stage in the country's political arena.
During the latest conflict with Israel, Nasrallah appeared on Hezbollah's al Manar television six times, bringing the country to a standstill as everyone tuned in. His speeches are delivered in a soft voice, without the fiery, rambling rhetoric of many Arab leaders.
Munira Ali, the teacher in Baalbek, said she and many of her secular friends were drawn to Hezbollah after short, plump Nasrallah, took its helm in 1992.
"He's honest. That's the most important thing. He has an amazing charisma," she said. "I don't doubt a word he utters."
Ali; her colleague Afrah Younes, 50; and several other Shiites interviewed for this story said they regularly donate money to the party's fund for the poor, the handicapped, orphans and widows.
"Hezbollah is the only group we trust," Younes said.
In Lebanon's 128-seat parliament, where seats are allocated according to religious identity, Hezbollah is now the largest single block, with 14 deputies. The party also has two ministers in the Lebanese Cabinet.
In the beginning, Hezbollah expressed a desire to establish an Islamic state in Lebanon, but it quickly realized the impracticality in a diverse nation with large populations of Sunnis, Druse and Christians. Now, its stated goal is to stand up for the "downtrodden" Shiite population, the largest sect in Lebanon but a minority in the Arab world.
Hezbollah has changed since the 1980s, when its name was synonymous with kidnappings of Westerners and bombings of Western military and diplomatic targets.
The group was behind a string of attacks: the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and the Marine barracks and French military headquarters in Beirut, the 1984 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in east Beirut, the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane in which an American serviceman onboard was killed.
Hezbollah now says that it opposes terrorism, and it denounced the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. But it makes exceptions for Israeli targets, regarding such attacks as resistance against an oppressor.
Hezbollah is still labeled as a terrorist group by the United States, but Europeans and others agree the party has not been linked to any attack on a Western target since the 1980s.
Experts say Hezbollah has even acted as a buffer against al-Qaida in Lebanon, aborting a few attempts by the group to attack Israel from Lebanese soil. Hezbollah apparently detained 14 al-Qaida operatives in Lebanon this year and handed them over to the Lebanese army intelligence.
Hezbollah's attempts to stop al-Qaida infiltration led Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who led al-Qaida in Iraq before he was killed by American troops in Iraq, to accuse the party of acting as a border guard for Israel.
Observers say that if Hezbollah were to be dismantled, al-Qaida could fill its place and the Lebanese government would be powerless to stop it.
The conclusion of its latest war with Israel, triggered by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12, is another watershed for the party. Will Shiites and other Lebanese hail the party for courageously fighting off the Israeli army or blame it for causing widespread devastation?
In that regard, Hezbollah appears to be off to a good start. Hours after the cease-fire went into effect, Nasrallah appeared on television with a promise to help Lebanese rebuild their homes and even help them buy new furniture.
Link (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060821/1020038.asp)